Six Thousand Years of History [5]

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COPYRIGHT, 1900

JUDITH

SIX

THOUSAND YEARS OF HISTORY BY

EDGAR SANDERSON,

A. M. AUTHOR “HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE” J. P. LAMBERTON, A. M. AUTHOR “HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS,” “LITERATURE

OF ALL NATIONS,” ETC.

JOHN MCGOVERN AUTHOR “THE GOLDEN LEGACY,” “ THE TOILERS’ DIADEM,” CAN STATESMEN,” ETC.

OLIVER

H.

“

FAMOUS AMERI-

G. LEIGH

COLLABORATOR ON “ HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS, ” “LITERATURE OF ALL NATIONS” AND “ LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE ” AUTHOR OF “HISTORY OF THE UNION LEAGUE OF PHILADELPHIA,” ETC. ;

AND THE FOLLOWING EMINENT AMERICAN EDITORS AND WRITERS

:

JOSEPH M. ROGERS A. M.; LA URENCE E. GREENE; M. A LANE; G. SENECA JONES A. M.; FREDERICK LOGAN; WILLIAM MATTHEWS HANDY

.

,

,

INTRODUCTION BY

MARSHALL

SNOW,

A. M. S. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY AND DEAN OF THE COLLEGE; AUTHOR “CITY GOVERNMENTS ” POLITICAL STUDIES,” ETC., ETC.

TEN VOLUITESv of

CHICAGO

ST.

1901

LOUIS

I

Copyright, i8gg

BY

EARL

R.

DuMONT

CONTENTS PAGE

Introduction Judith,

B.C

.

650.

Sublime Courage Sustained by Faith

The Most Celebrated

Aspasia, B.C. 489-420. tiquity

-

-

Cornelia, B.C.

-

A

160.

-

-

Woman of -

Isabella, A.D.

The Maid “The Mother

1412-1431.

145 1-1504.

3

-24

-

39

of Orleans of

x

An-

Mother’s Influence

Cleopatra, B.C. 69-30. “ The Sorceress of the Nile ” Ayesha, A.D. 610-667. Mother of The Faithful Joan of Arc, A.D.

-

Spain”

-

52

-

88

74

-

Catherine de Medici, A.D. 1519-1589. “The Sceptered Sorceress of Italia’s Land Elizabeth, A.D. 1533-1603. “The Virgin Queen” Christina, A.D. 1626-1689. Who Resigned a Crown Madame de Maintenon, A.D. 1635-1719. The Most Artful of Her Sex Mary Washington, A.D. 1714-1796. The Mother of Wash-

127

;

ington

--------------

Maria Theresa, A.D. 1717-1780. “The Mother of Germany ” Catherine II., A.D. 1729-1796. Empress of Russia Marie Antoinette, A.D. 1755-1793. Queen of France First Wife of Napoleon Bonaparte Queen and Empress

169 198

227

244

268 285

320 348

Josephine, A.D. 1763-1814.

389

Victoria, A.D.

4r5

1819.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Judith

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Last Toilet Aspasia

of Charlotte Corday

Cornelia Cleopatra Joan of Arc Isabella

PAGE

Frontispiece

Catherine De’ Medici Elizabeth

Mary Queen

-

-

-

-

_

of Scots Leaving France

Christina

-

-

-'

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Madame De Maintenon Mary Washington Maria Theresa

Catherine IIMarie Antoinette Josephine Victoria Art, Song, and Literature •

-

-

-

-

-

6

24

40 56 96 128 168 2 oo

208 232

256 272 288

320 352

400 416

434

i

INTRODUCTION

We have deemed it advisable,

volume of The Famous Women of the World, to seek examples in various ages and nations, and to restrict our labors to a limited number, in order to offer treatises that in devoting a

this series to

shall

be separately of value to the reader.

From

the early civilization of the world, covering the

ancient Chaldsean, Egyptian, Phoenician and Jewish peoples,

we have chosen

the highly celebrated story of Judith;

from Greece, Egypt and Rome, we have taken Aspasia, Cleopatra and Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi; from mediaeval times, Joan of Arc and Catherine de’ Medici. Spain offers us

Isabella.

The German

people are repre-

sented in Maria Theresa; Russia in the great Catherine, and Sweden in the eccentric Christina. While Rome gave to us Cornelia, the noble mother of unsuccessful patriots, America offers to our pages an account of the life of Mary, mother of Washington, patriot founder of one of the greatest nations the world

has seen. In modern France, where the storms of revolution first overwhelmed human institutions, we find three characters not to be omitted from an interesting book on women. The ancien regime the old style of government presents Madame de Maintenon, perhaps the most artful

—

—

and Marie Antoinette, who paid the price by fate exacted for such methods of life among the great. The Revolution itself brings forward as the chief character among its women, Josephine, who was the com-

woman

in history,

Voi,. s

—

i

INTRODUCTION

2

panion of Bonaparte, the foremost soldier that the battlefields

of the world have produced.

Two

great queens, Elizabeth and Victoria, have been

selected in a review of England’s daughters. It will

and

title

be found, on reading these pages, that the right of

woman

well attested.

to half of the world’s attention is here

Courage, devotion, learning, administra-

tive ability, adventure, heroic

qualities that are

of

not always

men themselves,

deportment and other rare

summoned out

are here recorded with

all

of the hearts the adjuncts

of history and marshaled in a mass that should arouse the just pride of

womanhood

in every land.

FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE WORLD JUDITH B. C. 650

SUBLIME COURAGE SUSTAINED BY FAITH

Some

twenty-three hundred years ago a tale was writ-

ten in the

Hebrew language,

picturing a feat of

womanly

courage so noble, so devoted, and so successful that

By

charmed the world. tale eventually

its

it

intrinsic beauty alone this

took the place of history and became a

chapter in the sacred Scriptures.

In a word, the illustrious beautiful

woman

widow

Judith, the

most

of Bethulia, mourning for her dead hus-

band, heard that the

King Nebuchodonosor, reigning

at

Nineveh, had proclaimed himself God, and offered peace

Jews only on condition that they should offer sacrihim rather than to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Assyrian general, Holof ernes, was at the pass in the mountains, with a vast army. She robed herself in her finest garments and went forth sustained by the Lord. She insinuated herself into the good graces of Holofernes, and obtained permission to remain in his tent. She plied him with wine, and, while he slept in stupor, she drew his own sword and cut off his head, carrying that bloody to the

fice to

trophy to Bethulia.

With

that, the

Jewish warriors beset

the Assyrians, and they, while waiting for

from the general’s

tent,

commands

were wholly overcome and put

flight. 3

to

FAMOUS WOMEN

4

We the Jew.

have no mention of Judith in Josephus or Philo Herodotus does not speak of her. Nebuchad-

nezzar did not reign at Nineveh, nor was he called King There was no city of Bethulia, or of the Assyrians. Betylia, near Jerusalem, although the father of

Rebecca

was named Bethuel. It is

a

Hebrew

tle

at

probable that the

Book of Judith was written by

poet of fine imagination,

who

possessed but

lit-

knowledge of the outside world, or the state of the arts the period in which he placed his drama. But notwithstanding these things, the apostolic

accepted the Book of was translated by the Seventy along with the rest of the Old Testament. It was translated into Latin from the Chaldee by St. Jerome. It was accepted as canonical by the Council of Carthage and by Pope Innocent I. of Rome, and cited as Scripture by Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Ambrose and AugusThe earliest express reference to Judith is in tine. Clement of Rome, a father and perhaps a martyr of the fathers of the Christian church

Judith as canonical.

first

It

century of the Christian era.

Thus highly indorsed, the story of Judith passed over Europe along with the Christian religion, a part of the faith of the Caucasian world, and it was not until the Protestant rebellion against the church that the contention of the Jews themselves, that Judith was not historical, began to take hold of men’s minds. While the tale was undergoing criticism among the philosophers, and long after it had been rejected in the Protestant Bible, the Catholic world was edified with learned dissertations, of which Mr. Gibert’s is an example (Academy of Inscripwhereby it was shown that Diodorus of tions, Vol. 22) Sicily had an account of a Holofernes who was brother of the King of Cappadocia; that this Holofernes became

—

—

JUDITH commanding general

5

army

of the

of Ochus,

Persia, in his expedition against the west; that

nezzar was a

title like

King

of

Nebuchad-

Caesar or Augustus, to be assumed

by any sovereign, and that the kings of those regions their seats with the seasons, seeking the mountains at Nineveh in the hot months and coming nearer the sea

moved

in cooler weather.

Joined with the great age of the heroism, was the enduring sense of

recital of Judith’s

its

beauty, and

it is

not to be wondered at that the Christian people of the most highly civilized quarters of Europe clung to the Book of

power of

and if Judith, herself, never lived, we should not the less have a place for her story, because of the direct effects which that story has wrought upon real history itself. When Mr. Froude was in the cabin of a sailing vessel, on his way to Australia, he tells us, in his “Oceana,” he fell a- thinking whether, after all, there were any difference to him between Julius Csesar, the conqueror, who lived, and Hamlet, the melancholy Dane, who appeared only in And Froude the imagination of William Shakespeare. thought that perhaps Hamlet, to him (Froude), was the more important personage. And to those readers whose sense of historical accuracy might be disturbed by the doubts attaching to the canonJudith for

its

inspiration;

Book of Judith, drama itself, because

icity of the

that the

has been played on the stage

it is

only necessary to say

the Book of modern

of Judith existed, events.

A young and beautiful girl, living in a peaceful French village,

reading daily from her Bible, heard that rebels at

Paris had slain her lord the King, had overthrown and

forbidden the worship of God, and had violated the holy

whose doors the bravest knights, in had ceased to advance upon their fleeing

sanctuaries, before

hottest pursuit,

FAMOUS WOMEN

6 enemies.

She heard there was a

chief monster at Paris

named Marat, who, covered with

the eruptions of a

loathsome disease, wreaked his vengeance on the world by devoting the pure, the good, and the noble to slaughter at the guillotine.

She

laid

down

her Bible, open at a marked passage in

the fourth chapter of the

Book of

Judith, containing the

prayer of the ancients of the city that

God would

prosper

the enterprise of Judith for the deliverance of her people.

She took the diligence for

unknown to men, and The next day 1793.

Paris, her project absolutely

arrived there on the

nth

of July,

she penetrated to the inner apart-

ments of Marat and found him in a bath, where he was warm weather. He wrote while partly immersed in the tub and took down names at her dictation, noble families whom he would at once send Having thus with her own eyes seen the to execution. proof of his sanguinary character, she drew a great knife and plunged it into his neck, killing him almost instantly.

compelled to stay in extremely

Her

bearing, while the insane city

was learning of her

deed and inquiring of her motives, was lofty and heroic.

She was quickly adjudged, and her execution followed a few days after her descent on Marat, and was probably delayed because of the festival of the 14th of July, which commemorated the capture of the Bastile by the people. Such was the sublimely heroic deed of the beautiful Charlotte Corday, who implicitly believed that Judith had lived before her. Such was the historic act, which for its consequence caused the slaughter of 200,000 aristocrats

by avengers of Marat. If Judith were not real, what could be more real than the bloody chapter of Charlotte Corday, in which Judith stands fully revealed? “There are deeds,” says Lamartine, “of which men are no judges, and which mount without appeal direct to the tribunal

COPYRIGHT,

1900

Ward, Pinx

THE LAST TOILET OF CHARLOTTE CORDAY

JUDITH

7

There are human actions so strange a mixture of of God. weakness and strength, pure intent and culpable means,

murder and martyrdom, that we know not whether to term them crime or virtue. The culpable devotion of Charlotte Corday is among those acts which admiration and horror would leave eternally in doubt, error and truth,

did not morality reprove them.

Had we

to find for this

sublime liberatrix of her country and generous murderess a

of a tyrant

name which should

at once

convey the

enthusiasm of our feelings toward her and the severity of

our judgment on her action,

we

should coin a phrase com-

bining the extreme of admiration and horror and term her the Angel of Assassination.”

Inasmuch as the history of Judith has been omitted from the ordinary Protestant Bible of the home and as the great episode of Charlotte Corday has given to the Hebrew poem a new meaning and interest, we shall now proceed to give an extended account of Judith’s deed, taken directly from the book as it appears in the Apocrypha of the Douay Bible. “The Hebrews and the heretics of these times,” says Moreri, bitterly, in his Grand Dictionary, “refuse to place the

although

it

Book

of Judith

among

the canonics,

has always been received as such.”

And

refers to the Council of Nice, the Council of Trent

many

authorities that

ing page.

we have

not

named on

he

and

the preced-

(See Moreri’s Dictionary, Article Judith.)

B. Gibert also finds in Diodorus of Sicily a Bagaos, or

Vagaos,

who

rose from the condition of a slave to be the

chief ruler of Persia.

Modern French

scholars of the

highest class, like Lenormant, whose Christianity

is

not

Book of Judith without mention, thus condemning it as a work without historical value. It is because of its moral power and its hoary historical place questioned, pass the

FAMOUS WOMEN

8 in the

minds of four hundred millions of people that we

confidently offer

it

Portions of the

in this

Book

volume. of Judith were written as

to be chanted at public festivals.

years these

hymns were

the chosen people. recitative,

hymns

For many hundred

so used in the great meetings of

Their language, therefore,

is

often

for the purpose of completing the musical

phrase in a symmetrical manner. these repetitions especially, as they

In a prose relation,

must be

in a

language

foreign to the original poet, will only be followed where

they carry singular euphonious beauty. will

Yet the reader

perhaps be agreeably surprised in noting that, after

two thousand years, with translations and recensions through the Chaldee, Syro-Chaldee, Arabic, Greek, Latin, French and English, the poems

still

retain passages of

undoubted majesty and many charming sentences where pure euphony has been the desire of the poet and the result of his labors.

Arphaxad, King of the Medes, had built a very strong which he called Ecbatana. In the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchodonosor, King of Assyria, who reigned

city,

at Nineveh, the great city,

and overcame him.

he went out against Arphaxad

And Nebuchodonosor,

needing

for the taking of Ecbatana, sent out messages to tions westward, passing Jerusalem

and going as

all

allies

the na-

far as the

borders of Ethiopia. But these messengers came back empty-handed, thus mortally offending the Assyrian King.

And

in the thirteenth

year of his reign Nebuchodonosor

command

of an army of one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand horsemen, who, with a grand caravan of camels, heads of oxen,

put Holofernes in

flocks of sheep, stores of wheat,

ury of the King’s house,

set

and cash out of the

treas-

out for the west to bring every

strong city at once under subjection to the King.

JUDITH Holofernes marched westward, destroying and devas-

and city after city fell before him. There came upon the western world, even at the ancient and powerful city of Damascus, a fear that unless peace could be made with the King of Assyria, not a soul would be left alive. tating,

Therefore the kings of the

cities

of Assyria, Mesopotamia,

Syria- Sobal, Lydia and Cilicia, sent deputations to Holofernes,

with offers of their subjection, and Holofernes,

after entering their cities, gathered auxiliaries of valiant

men, and increased his armies locusts on the face of the earth.

became

until they

Wherever Holofernes went, he had orders

as the

to destroy

the worship of the local deities and set up statues of the

Assyrian King,

Lord of

who

Heaven

proclaimed himself to be the only

and

Earth.

And

Holofernes

as

approached those of the Children of Israel

who

dwelt in

the land of Juda, they heard with horror of what he pro-

posed to do with the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, for they knew what had happened to the temples of other cities.

While they might have subjected their bodies to the rule of the Assyrian, they saw no way to make peace with him, and Eliachim, the priest, wrote to all the Jews in the strong places of the mountains, by which ways Holofernes must pass if he penetrated to Jerusalem, and all the people fortified their souls with continued prayer and sacrifice. When it was told to Holofernes that the Jews had shut the passes, he was transported with exceeding great fury and indignation. And he called the Princes of Moab and the leaders of Ammon and demanded to know of them what manner of people had dared to stand apart and refused the terms of peace which he was extending to the rest.

Then Achior,

captain of

recited the history of the

all

Jews

the Children of

to Holofernes

:

Ammon,

That they

FAMOUS WOMEN

IO

were an offspring of the Chaldaeans; that they had separated for religious reasons, and dwelt in Charan; that because of famine they had gone into Egypt and dwelt four hundred years; that they had miraculously escaped from Egypt, evidently through the power of the unseen God whom they worshiped; that no nation could triumph over these Jews except at the times they had departed from the worship of the Lord, their God. In this way they had overthrown the Kings of the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Pherezites, the Hittites, the Hevites, the

Amarites, and

many

other captains, who, until the com-

ing of the Jews, had been renowned for their power:

And now Achior

counseled the haughty Assyrian to there were any iniquity of the

Jews God, which Achior conceived to offer the only practicable plan of overwhelming them. search well to find

if

in the sight of their

But this manner of attributing power to the God of the Hebrews angered not only Holofernes, but all of the

who feared that their worship of Nebuchodonosor might be suspected. And Holofernes said to Achior “Because thou hast prophesied unto us saying, that the nation of Israel is defended by their God, to show thee that there is no God but Nebuchodonosor when we shall slay them all as one man, then thou shalt die with them by the sword of the Assyrians, and all Israel shall perish with thee. But if thou think thy prophecy true, let not thy countenance sink, and let the paleness that is in thy face depart from thee.”

Assyrian leaders,

:

Then Holofernes commanded

his

servants to take

Achior, and to lead him to Bethulia, a strong place in the

mountains, which was something more than a mere fortress,

ple

having inhabitants and houses where peaceful peoThere Achior was to be deliv-

permanently resided.

ered to the Jews to share their destinies.

And

eventually

JUDITH

ii

i

Achior found himself before the ancients of the city, and all that had happened. And all the people fell upon their faces, adoring the Lord, and all of them together, moaning and weeping, poured out their prayers with one accord to the Lord, saying, “O, Lord, God of Heaven and Earth, behold the pride of the he related faithfully to them

Thou on our low condition, and have Thy saints, and that Thou forsakest not them that trust in Thee; and that Thou humblest them that presume of themselves and glory in their own strength.” And when their meeting was ended, they Assyrians, and look

regard to the face of

comforted Achior.

But the siege of Holofernes progressed in a manner foreboding great evil to the Jews, for he was able to stop their supplies of water, so that at last the people sur-

rounded Ozias, and demanded that he should surrender the city. But he craved five more days, in which the Lord might deliver them.

Now

was shut

chamber of a house in (the word in Greek and Hebrew means “J ewess ”)> whose husband had been dead there

Bethulia, a

in the

widow named Judith

three years and six months, and she had fasted every day

new moons, and the feasts of the She was exceedingly beautiful, and her husband left her great riches, very many servants, and large possessions of herds of oxen and flocks of sheep. She was greatly renowned among all because she feared the Lord very much, neither was there any one that spoke except the Sabbaths, the

House of

an

ill

word

And private Ozias, in

five *

Israel.

of her.*

to this beautiful

chamber

in

woman, thus immured in her came the word that

Bethulia,

would surrender the city days, unless the Lord should intervene for

the Prince of Juda,

See Bayle’s Dictionary.

FAMOUS WOMEN

12

Whereupon she sent His people. and said to them: “Who are You have set the time for the you, that tempt the Lord ? mercy of the Lord. Now, with many tears, let us beg His Let us ask the Lord with tears, for we have not pardon. deliverance of

the

two of the

for

ancients,

followed the sins of our fathers

who

forsook their

God

Let us humbly wait for

and worshiped strange Gods.

His consolation, and He will humble all the nations that up against us, and bring them to disgrace.” And after many words of devotion she closed her speech, and Ozias and the ancients were convinced, and “All things which thou hast spoken are true, answered shall rise

:

and there

nothing to be reprehended in thy words.

is

Now, therefore, pray for “As you know,” replied able to say if it

is

thou art a holy woman.”

us, for

Judith, “that

what

I

have been

of God, so that which Lintend to do, prove ye

be of God, and pray that

You

God

shall strengthen

my

and I will go out with my maid-servant; and pray ye that, as you have said, the Lord may look down upon his people of Israel. But I desire that you search not into what I am doing, and till I bring you word, let nothing else be done but to pray for me to the Lord, our God.” design.

And

shall stand at the gate this night,

Ozias said to her,

“Go

in peace,

and the Lord be

with thee; take revenge of our enemies.” And when they were gone, Judith prayed in her oratory “O, Lord, God of my father Simeon, look upon the camp of the Assyrians now, as Thou wast pleased to look upon the camp of the Egyptians when they pursued, armed, after Thy servants, :

trusting in their chariots,

and

multitude of warriors; but

in their

Thou

horsemen, and in a

lookedst over their

camp

and darkness wearied them; the deep held their feet, and the waters overwhelmed them. So may it be with these also, O, Lord, who trust in their multitude, and in their

JUDITH and

and

x

3

and in and glory in their spears; lift up Thy arm as from the beginning, and let it fall upon them that promise themselves to violate Thy sanctuary and defile the dwelling-place of Thy name. Bring to pass, O, Lord, that the pride of Holof ernes may be cut off with his own sword; chariots,

in their pikes,

in their shields,

their arrows,

him be caught in the net of his own eyes in my regard, and do Thou strike him by the basis of the words of my lips. Give me constancy in my mind that I may despise him, and fortitude that I may overthrow him. For this will be a glorious monument for Thy name, when Holofernes shall fall by the hand of a woman. let

“O, God of the Heavens, Creator of the waters, and Lord of the whole Creation, hear me, a poor wretch, making supplication to Thee, and presuming of

Thy

mercy.

Remember, O, Lord, Thy covenant, and put Thou words in my mouth, and strengthen the resolution in my heart, that

Thy

temple at Jerusalem

may

continue in

Thy

holi-

ness.”

When Judith rose from the place wherein she lay prostrate before the

Lord she

called her

the garments of her widowhood.

body and anointed

maid and put away she washed her

And

herself with the best ointment, plaited

the hair of her head, put on her head-dress, clothed herself

with the garments of her gladness, put sandals on her feet, and took her bracelets, earlets, and rings, and adorned herself

with

all

her ornaments.

And the Lord

also

gave her

more beauty, because all this dressing-up proceeded only from virtue, so that she appeared to all men’s eyes incomparably lovely.

maid a bottle of wine to carry, and a parched wheat, dry figs, bread and cheese, and went out. And when the twain came to the gate of She gave

vessel of

to her

oil,

the city, they found Ozias

and the ancients of the

city

FAMOUS WOMEN

H When

waiting.

they saw her they were astonished, and

admired her beauty exceeding. tions,

but

let

her pass, saying

give thee grace, and

may He

:

They asked her no ques“The God of our fathers

strengthen

all

thy heart with His power, that Jerusalem thee,

the council of

may

glory in

and thy name be in the number of the Holy and

Just.”*

And

as Judith passed silently out, the multitude !”

“So be it So be it the watchmen of the Assyrians break of day, And at “I am a daughter of stopped her, and she said to them the Hebrews, and I am fled from them because I knew they would be made a prey to you, because they despised you and would not of their own accord yield themselves, that they might find mercy in your sight. For this reason I said to myself I will go to the presence of the Prince Holofernes, that I may take him their secrets, and show him by what way he may take them without the loss of one with one voice repeated

:

!

:

:

man of his army.” And when the watchmen had

heard her words they

beheld her face, and their eyes were amazed upon seeing

her great beauty.

Therefore they assured her, saying “Thou hast saved :

thy

life

by taking

this resolution to

come down

to our

Lord, for when thou shalt stand before him, he will treat thee well, and thou wilt be most acceptable to his heart.”

And

they brought her to the tent of Holofernes,

ing him of her.

tell-

And when

she was come into his preswas made captive by her eyes, so that his officers said to him: “Who can despise the people of the Hebrews, who have such beautiful women, that we should not think it worth while for their sakes to fight against them ?”

ence, forthwith Holofernes

* This Corday.

is

the passage that

was marked

in the Bible of Charlotte

JUDITH

*5

Now, Holofernes was sitting in such state under a canopy, which was woven of purple and gold, with emeralds and precious stones, that Judith, after she had looked upon his face, bowed down to him, prostrating herself to the ground, and the servants of Holofernes lifted her up, by the command of their master. Then Holofernes said to her: “Be of good comfort, and fear not in thy heart; for I have never hurt any one that was willing to serve Nebuchodonosor, the King, and if thy people had not despised me, I would never have lifted up my spear against them. Now, tell me for what cause hast thou left them, and come to us?” And Judith replied “Receive the words of thy handmaid, for if thou dost follow them, the Lord will do thee :

a perfect thing, for as Nebuchodonosor, the King, then his power liveth in thee for chastising souls.

Not only men

serve

also the beasts of the fields.

all

liveth,

straying

him when they serve thee, but For the industry of thy mind

spoken of among all nations, and it is told to the whole world that thou only art excellent and mighty in all his kingdom, and thy discipline is extolled in all provinces. It is known also what Achior said to thee, nor are we ignorant of what thou hast commanded to be done to him. It is so certain that our God is so offended with our sin

is

that

He

He hath

word by His prophets to the people that them up for their sins. And because the

sent

will deliver

know

they have offended their God, dread of thee is upon them. Moreover, a famine hath come upon them, and, for drought of water, they are ready They are pressed to kill to be counted among the dead.

Children of Israel

their cattle

and drink

crated things of the Lord, their

them

to touch, in wheat,

they do these things,

and to eat the conseGod, which God forbids

their blood,

wine and

it is

oil,

therefore, because

certain they will be given

up

6

FAMOUS WOMEN

1

and I, thy handmaiden, knowing this, am from them, and the Lord hath sent me to thee to tell thee these very things, for I, thy handmaiden, worship God even now that I am with thee, and I will go out and pray to God. He will tell me when He will repay them for their sins, and I will come and tell thee, so that I may bring thee to the midst of Jerusalem, and thou shalt have all the people of Israel, as sheep that have no shepherd, and there shall not be so much as one dog bark against you. Because these things are told me by the providence of God, and God is angry with them, I am to destruction; fled

sent to

these very things to thee.”

tell

And

all

these

words pleased Holofernes and

They admired her wisdom, and they

ants.

another

‘‘There

:

is

in look, in beauty,

fernes said to her

:

not such another

and

in sense of

his serv-

said one to

woman upon earth, And Holodone well who sent

words.”

“Thy God hath

thee out before thy people that thou mightest give

And

into our hands.

God

because thy promise

He

is

good,

them if

thy

my God

and thou shalt be great in the house of Nebuchodonosor, and thy name shall be renowned through all the earth.” Then Holofernes ordered that Judith should go in where his treasures were laid up, and bade her tarry there, and he appointed what should be given her from his own table; but Judith answered him, saying: “I cannot eat of these things which thou commandest to be given me, lest sin come upon me; but I will eat of the things which I have brought.” But Holofernes asked “If these things which thou shall

do

this for

me,

shall also

be

:

hast brought with thee

thee?” shall

“As

my

not spend

fail thee,

soul liveth,

all

my

these things

that which I have proposed.”

what

shall

we do

for

Lord, thy handmaiden

till

God do by my hand

JUDITH And

17

the servants of Holof ernes brought Judith into

commanded for her. But when she was going in, she desired that she might have liberty to go out at night and before day to prayer. And he commanded his chamberlain, that she might go out and in, the tent which he had

to adore her

God

as she pleased for three days.

There-

fore she went out in the night into the valley of Bethulia,

and washed herself in a fountain of water. And as she came up she prayed to the Lord, God of Israel, that He would direct her ways to the deliverance of His people. On the fourth day Holofernes made a supper for his servants and said to Vagaos, his eunuch “Go and per:

suade that Hebrew

woman

own

of her

accord to dwell

with me.”

Then Vagaos went

to Judith,

and said

“Let not

:

my

good maid be afraid to go before my lord, that she may be honored before his face, that she may eat with him, and drink wine and be merry.” And Judith answered him “Who am I, that I should gainsay my lord? All that shall be good and best before his eyes, I will do. Whatsoever shall please him, that :

shall be best to

And

me,

all

the days of

my

life.”

she arose and dressed herself out with her gar-

ments, and going in she stood before his face.

was deeply smitten with

heart of Holofernes

And

the

love of her,

“Drink now, and sit down and be merry; for thou hast found favor before me.” so that he said to her:

And life is

Judith said

:

magnified this day above

And

maid had prepared for

And

her.

ever before drunk in his late, his

all

she took and ate and drank before

merry, and drank exceeding

'

my lord, my days.”

“I will drink,

servants went to their

Voi,,

5—2

my

him what her

Holofernes was made

more than he had it was grown Vagaos shut and lodgings,

much

life.

because

wine,

And when

FAMOUS WOMEN

i8

And all

the chamber doors and went his way.

the Assyri-

ans were overcharged with wine, Holofernes lying on

and drunk with wine, and Judith was Therefore she spoke to her maid stand outside and to watch.

his bed, fast asleep

alone in his chamber. to

And

Judith stood before the bed, praying with tears,

and the motion of her en me, O, Lord,

God

lips in silence,

saying

:

“Strength-

of Israel, and in this hour look on

work of Thy hands,

that as Thou hast promised Thou up Jerusalem Thy city; and that I may bring to pass that which I have purposed, having a belief that it might be done by Thee.” And when she had thus prayed, she went to the pillar that was at his bed’s head and loosed his sword that hung tight upon it. When she had drawn it out, she took Holofernes by the hair of his head, and prayed, “Strengthen me, O, Lord, God, at this hour;” and she struck twice upon his neck' and cut off his head, and took off his canopy from the pillars and rolled away his headless body. And after a while she went out and delivered the head of Holo-

the

mayst

raise

fernes to her maid, bidding her to put

it

in her wallet.

And

the twain went out, according to their custom, as if were to prayer, and they passed the tent, and having compassed the valley they came to the gate of the city. And Judith from afar off cried to watchmen upon the it

“Open the gates, for God shown His power in Israel.” walls:

When

the

is

with

us,

who hath

men heard

her voice, they called the an-

and

ran to meet her, from the least

cients of the city,

all

had abandoned hope that she up lights, they all gathered She, going to a higher place, combe made, and when all had held their

to the greatest; for they

would

return.

round about

manded

And her.

silence to

lighting

peace, Judith cried, “Praise ye the Lord, our God,

who

JUDITH

19

hath not forsaken them that hope in Him. By me, His handmaiden, He hath fulfilled His mercy which He prom-

House of Israel, for hand this night.”

ised to the

by

my

Then she brought

He

hath killed the enemy

forth the head of Holofernes out

of the wallet and showed

it

to them, saying:

the head of Holofernes, the general of the

“Behold

army

of the

Assyrians, and behold his canopy, wherein he lay in his

drunkenness, where the Lord, our God, slew him by the

hand of a woman. hath been

my

As

the

same Lord

liveth, His angel and abiding there and the Lord hath

keeper, both going hence

and returning from thence hither; brought me back to you without pollution of sin, rejoicing for His victory, for my escape, and for your deliverance. Give all of you glory to Him because He is good, because His mercy endureth forever.” And they all adored the Lord, and said to her “The Lord hath blessed thee by His power, because by thee He :

hath brought our enemy to nought.”

And

prince of the people of Israel, said to her thou,

:

Ozias, the

“Blessed art

O daughter, by the Lord, the Most High God, above

women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made Heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting

all

head of the prince of our enemies; because name this day that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men, who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord forever, for that thou

off of the

He

hath so magnified thy

hast not only risked thy

life

to lessen the distress

and

tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in

the presence of our God.”

And

the people said

all

:

“So

So be it!” Then they called for Achior, captain of all the children of Ammon, who had been delivered to them by “The God of Israel, Holofernes, and Judith said to him

be

it!

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

20 to

of

whom all

mayst

thou gavest testimony,

He

hath cut off the head

the unbelievers this night by find that

despised the

who

it is so,

God

in the

my

hand, that thou

contempt of his pride

of Israel and threatened thee with

death.”

Then Achior,

seeing the head of Holofernes, fell on upon the earth and his soul swooned away, but after he had recovered his spirits he fell down at her feet, reverencing her, and said “Blessed art thou by thy God his face

:

in all the dwellings of Jacob, for in every nation they shall

hear thy name, the cause of thee.”

God

And

of Israel shall be magnified be-

Achior and

all

kindred were joined to the people of

And

following the

command

the succession of his Israel.

of Judith they

hung

the

head of Holofernes on the wall, and at break of day every man took his arms and then went out with a great noise and shouting. The Assyrian watchmen, seeing this, ran to the tent of Holofernes.

And

the great officers that

were in the tent made a noise before the door of his chamber, hoping thus to awaken him for no man durst knock, or open and go into the chamber of the general of the Assyrians. But when his captains and tribunes were come, and all the chiefs of the army, they said to the chamberlain “Go in and wake him, for the mice, coming out of their holes, have presumed to challenge us to ;

:

fight”

Then Vagaos, going

into the

stood before the curtain and

chamber of Holofernes,

made a clapping with

his

when with hearkening he conceived no notion one lying, he lifted the curtain, and, seeing the body of Holofernes lying on the ground, without the head, welterhands, but

of

ing in his blood, he cried out with a loud noise with weepand rent his garments. And he went into the tent of

ing,

Judith,

and not finding

her,

he ran out to the people and

JUDITH

21

“One Hebrew woman hath made confusion in the house of King Nebuchodonosor; for behold Holof ernes said

:

upon the ground, and his head is not upon him.” "When the chiefs of the Assyrians heard this, an intolerable fear and dread fell upon them, and when all the army heard it, courage and councils fled from them. And because the Assyrians were not united together under the attack of the Hebrews, they came with loud noise, as of a vast multitude, they went without order in their flight. And Ozias sent messengers through all the cities and countries of Israel, and every city sent chosen young men after the Assyrians and they pursued them out of Israel with lieth

the edge of the sword.

And

they that returned conquer-

ors to Bethulia brought with them the Assyrians’, so that there

and

all

things that were

was no numbering

their cat-

insomuch that from the least to the greatest all were made rich by their spoils. All those things that were proved to be the peculiar goods of Holofernes they gave to Judith, in gold and silver and garments, and precious stones, and all household tle

beasts,

and

all

their movables,

stuff.

And Joachim, Bethulia with

all

the high priest,

came from Jerusalem to And when

his ancients, to see Judith.

come out to them, they all blessed her with one saying: “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem; thou

she was voice,

!”

honor of our people And all the people rejoiced with the women and virgins and young men, playing on instruments and harps. And Judith sang a canticle to the Lord, which occupies art the glory of Israel; thou art the

the greater portion of the last chapter of the

Book

of

Judith.

And when

all

the people

came up

to Jerusalem to

adore the Lord, Judith offered for an anathema of oblivion that is, an offering to the Lord, as an everlasting

—

FAMOUS WOMEN

22

monument

His

to prevent forgetfulness of

benefits

—

all

the arms of Holofernes, and the canopy that she had carried out of his chamber.

victory

made

was

And

this

Judith was

great in Bethulia and she was most renowned in

Chastity

the land of Israel.

on

For three months the joy of

celebrated with Judith.

was joined

to her virtue,

days she came forth with great glory.

festival

all

and She

abode in her husband’s house a hundred and five years, and died and was buried with her husband in Bethulia,

and all

all

her

mourned for her seven days. During was none that troubled Israel, nor many

the people life

there

years after her death.

The painting

of “Judith and Holofernes,” by Horace

museum

Vernet, hangs in the

and has been copied

of the Louvre, at Paris,

Vernet was in his day, doubtless, the most popular of French in countless engravings, as

painters, always choosing subjects in

which the people

took a deep interest and representing them,

if

not with

genius, at least with the dramatic spirit highly pleasing

Boethius, the last of the great

to the people.

authors (he in so

high esteem) has ,

of Judith.

was

whom King Alfred and Queen The

able to give

left

lines are

some

a musical rendition of the story

very short.

The Latin

writer

color of luxury to the scene of the

tent of Holofernes, his golden fly-net

being evidently

Roman

Elizabeth held

unknown

to the

and other trappings

Hebrew

author.

In 1565 there was printed at London an octavo volume entitled: “The Famous History of the Vertuous

and Godly Woman Judeth.” The Abbot de la Chambre, in the funeral oration over the Queen of France in 1684, took for his text the passage in the Book of Judith wherein it is stated that “She made herself famous in all things, and there was none that gave her an ill word,” said that it was perhaps the first com-

JUDITH

23

mendation that was ever given to a woman; for notwithstanding the prodigious detraction that has prevailed so long in the world, there are some women that remain un-

touched by that implacable monster; yet this good fortune rarely happens to those who have otherwise a shining reputation, so that

we may boldly

challenge

all

the Greeks

and Romans to show us a passage in their books that in so few words gives us so great an idea as that which the Book of Judith gives us in the words beforementioned.

The address

that

Homer made

use of to give his reader

a great notion of the beauty of Helen

is

certainly inferior

and simplicity of the Jewish author, and most excellent in his way of praising is that he has included in his elegy the true cause and source of the virtue he has described. “She had,” says he, “a great reputation in all things, and was secure from every evil challenge, because she was sensibly touched with the to the plainness

that which

is

fear of the Lord.”

The Book ble courage in

cation in

of Judith

woman

;

it

is

a shining picture of the possi-

found

Charlotte Corday

lion-hearted.

—

its

exact

young,

human

devout,

“Courage,” says Aaron

exemplifibeautiful,

Hill, “is poorly

housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herds that are about him nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter.”

ASPASIA B. C. 489-420

THE MOST CELEBRATED WOMAN OF ANTIQUITY For two thousand years Aspasia was looked upon by wonder and veneration. As men ask

the learned with

themselves ceive

all

if it

could be possible that one

man

could con-

the beautiful phrases of Shakespeare, so scholars,

reading the encomiums of

Socrates, Plato,

Xenophon,

Thucydides, concerning the Athenian woman, inquired

one of another

if

there

would probably appear among

mankind a second Aspasia,

to delight with the graces of

womanhood and to counsel with the wisdom of the sage. The last two centuries have beheld the rapid intellectual development of woman, until Aspasia no longer seems a miracle, yet to account for the feelings of the ancients

it

would be well

to point to the social conditions of

the early world.

At what time subsequent gan

to sequestrate their

but at a period

to the pastoral

women

when Greece was

is

age

men

be-

not at present known,

inhabited by people using

stone implements, the nations east of the Euphrates were

and metaland sequestered their

well established in the arts of weaving, pottery

working.

They had

built cities

women. Draper, in his “Civil Policy of America,” dwells upon the power of climate over men. “A similar climate makes men think alike and act alike,” he says. Therefore, the tendency of men in African and Asiastic nations to keep their is

women

separate and unseen by the multitude

attributed to the climate.

As 24

the civilization of

Egypt

ASPASIA

25

and Chaldaea was carried westward by the sea-caravans of the Phoenician merchants, those nations, like Athens, that

traded with the eastern world were the

first of Europeans and make seraglios for their women, while the more jealous and republican Spartans spurned all the luxuries of Asia and lived on in the stern simplicity of the stone and bronze ages. At the time of Pericles, Phidias, and Aspasia, Athens had adopted all the effeminate practices of Persia. What is most notable is, that, in the enthusiasm of the student, the Athenian people not only excelled in the examples of art in architecture and sculpture, brought to them by their teachers, but set a mark for all the succeeding world that still excites the envy and admiration of mankind. It is especially because the small commonwealth of thirty thousand families rose to heights of art and philosophy that have since proved unapproachable, that Aspasia, who had so great a hand in these triumphs, became the most

to imitate the practices of the Orient

celebrated

woman

But how was

of antiquity. it

possible for a

woman,

in

an age and

a land of seraglios, to rise to public celebrity? We may profitably quote a passage from Mitford, who, in his “History of Greece,” attributes wholly to a democratic gov-

ernment the treatment of women. It should be remembered that near by was the democratic government of Sparta, where every mother played a great part in the social drama. While Mitford makes an argument for class privilege, we may still learn from his remarks how Aspasia came to escape the seclusion of the seraglio. “The political

circumstances of Athens,” says Mitford, “had

much to exclude women of rank from gensociety. The turbulence to which every common-

contributed eral

wealth was continually liable from the contentions of faction,

made

it

often unsafe, or at least unpleasant, for them

FAMOUS WOMEN

26

to

go abroad.

But

the

men

was peThat form of government compelled

in democracies their situation

culiarly untoward.

to associate, all with

necessarily called

all

all.

The

general assembly

together; and the votes of the mean-

being there of equal value with that of the

est citizens

more numerous body of the poor was always formidable to the wealthy few. Hence followed the utmost condescension, or something more than condescension, from the rich to the multitude; and not to the col-

highest, the

lected multitude only,

nor to the best among the multitude,

but principally to the most turbulent, ill-mannered and

Not those alone who sought honors or command, but all those who desired security for their property, must not only meet these men upon a footing of equality in the general assembly, but associate with them in the gymnasia and porticos, flatter them, and someworthless.

times cringe to them.

which

their fathers

The women,

to avoid a society

and husbands could not avoid, lived

with their female slaves in a secluded part of the house; associating

little

with one another, and scarcely at

all

with

the men, even their nearest relations; and seldom appear-

ing in public but at those religious festivals in which ancient

customs required the

sacerdotal

women

to bear a part,

and

authority could insure decency of conduct

toward them.

Hence the education of the Athenian wom-

en was scarcely above that of their slaves; and as

we

find

them exhibited in lively picture, in the little treatise upon domestic economy remaining to us from Xenophon, they were equally of uninstructed minds and unformed manners. To the deficiencies to which women of rank were thus condemned by custom, which the new political circumstances of the country* had superinduced upon the *

It is

the world

here seen that Mitford and oriental manners.

knew nothing

of the early history of

ASPASIA

27

manner of heroic

ages, was owing that comparative through which some of the Grecian courtesans attained extraordinary renown. Carefully instructed better

superiority

and from early years accustomed to converse among men and men of the highest rank and most approved talents if they possessed understanding, it became cultivated; and to their houses men resorted to enjoy in the most polished company the charm in every eligible accomplishment,

— —

of female conversation, which, with education,

was

women

of rank and

totally forbidden.”

What Mitford

does not understand

somewhat modified the

is

that climate

had

rigors of the Persian seraglios.

The mountains of Greece were certain to act toward the liberation of women, while it was the despotism and not the democracy of the Orient that had handed the custom

of the seraglio to Athens. his

own

Nevertheless, Mitford,. even in

fashion, has given an excellent reason for the emi-

nence of Aspasia. She was the wife of Pericles, as Theresa

was the wife of Rousseau; she was the companion of Sophocles, Plato, and Phidias. We shall see that these men looked upon her with respect and admiration, and though

we

little is

shall

now

known

enter

of the personal details of her

life,

upon her biography, which, unfortuby her enemies and enviers

nately, has been written rather

than by her friends.

Aspasia was born at the great city of Miletus, on the Asian continent, and therefore could never be leThe city was noted for gally married to an Athenian. of the minds and cultivation the attention it gave to the the graces of women. What misfortunes drove her from Miletus

is

not known, nor could a foreign

woman

arrive

at Athens in any other character than that of an adventuress.

At

this

in the state,

time Pericles had risen to the highest place

and under

his administration

Greek colonies

FAMOUS WOMEN

28

had been planted to the

widow

in

many

places.

money had probably

was married

aided him to secure the suffrages of

the Athenian mob, although he

of a fortune.

Pericles

of a wealthy citizen, Hipponicus, and her

No

was himself the

inheritor

sooner had he seen the beautiful and

learned Aspasia than he

fell

completely under her influ-

ence and secured a divorce from his wife, who had borne him two children. The relations which Pericles now set

up with Aspasia, while

scandalous under the Athenian were of the most honorable character, for the statutes would not permit a foreign woman to be naturalized, or to marry an Athenian. And in our own age we have seen unions of educated and honorable people that were outside the law but not the less natural and right in fact. But the divorce of his wife offered an easy point of attack to the tribe of comic poets that infested Athens, and Aristophanes was soon at work for the delectation of the mob, picturing Aspasia as the siren who was enslaving the Athenian Hercules. If an evilminded satirist, who can invent nothing whose literature lives only as the shadow of some great substance—if this satirist write a witty thing, it is the cruel custom of the world to believe it, and thus probably the history of Athens has been fated to live more obviously in the wicked but brilliant slanders of Aristophanes than in the solemn pages law,

it is

still

quite possible

—

of the Grecian scribes.

After Pericles had arrived at full power, he found it advantageous to be seen less often, while the people took their revenge in applauding the malice of Aristophanes.

During this period of seclusion Pericles was in the company not only of Aspasia, but of the most celebrated philosophers of the time, whose fame still promises never to dim.

In the conversation of the learned, however, the

love of the arts and the desire to heighten the popular

ASPASIA

29

were continually finding expression, and those great works of architecture and sculpture were planned which tended to benefit the people and place their commonwealth in the vanguard of human progress for three thousand years. Through the efforts of this circle of thinkers and geniuses, the theater was made a public institution, and the tragedies of ^Eschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were enacted upon its stage, as well as the buffoonery of the wits. Great painters arose, whose canvases have long since turned to dust; and from the quarideas

public

ries

of Attic marble, Phidias, the superintendent of public

architecture, not only brought forth the

Parthenon and

the other Athenian temples, but himself wrought such works of heroic statuary as were the subjects of admiring comment throughout the pagan world. But among all the glories of Athens, the eloquence of Pericles shone

with greatest splendor, and when the violent accusations of politicians had risen to their most unseemly heights,

was openly asserted that Pericles was but the parrot or actor reciting words or thoughts learned of Aspasia. For fifteen years the great and wise man guided the it

Athenian people, advancing the great buildings, permitting the most open and brutal libels in the name of free speech, and diverting the multitude by naval spectacles in which large numbers of otherwise idle and mischievous citizens might be employed. For eight months in the year an exercising squadron of sixty trireme galleys was sent to cruise the Grecian seas. It is in

times of peace that the people

fail

nate between the merely noisy and the great.

thenon rose and

hung

rich

As

the Par-

was decorated or sanctified of the gods on which golden ornaments

its

with ivory statues

to discrimi-

interior

and heavy, the weight of the public taxes began was al-

to cause discontent, and the influence of Aspasia

FAMOUS WOMEN

3°

leged as the cause of the departure of Athens from the simpler and less expensive methods of olden times.

It

had engraven their own features on the faces of the gods, and the builders were accused of enriching themselves by slighting the work and underweighing the gold in the temples. At the time of the grossest libels, it was the custom of the great men of Athens to frequent the house of Pericles and Aspasia, where even Socrates did not hesitate to advance his ora-

was

alleged that the sculptors

tory under the lessons of that patriot.

This overturning

of social customs, along with the practical usurpation by Pericles of the chief executive power, could not fail to en-

kindle the deepest resentments, and

when

Pericles inter-

vened with his triremes, in the war between Miletus and Samos, the comic poets, now appearing as citizens and com-

war into which Athens had entered would never have come but for the Milesian woman who had so long possessed the ear of the Athenian chief. Again, arousing religious prejudices, it was alleged

plainants, alleged that the

that the philosophers

—Zeno, —held

thagoras, and the rest

Socrates, Anaxagoras, Pyheretical views of the future

and questioned the direct power of the gods, so that while they were so often together and so highly favored by Pericles, the very religion of the nation might be overthrown and some new and impious worship established, as they had already seen that Aspasia’ s new condition had been made honorable, and women who feared the gods had been retired to the deepest obscurity. With this argument the comic poet Hermippus, havlife

ing failed to seriously embarrass the great Pericles with his buffoonery,

now

appeared before the judges with the

criminal indictment of Aspasia, both as an impious

wom-

an and an offender against the social laws of the republic. At the same time very deeply contrived prosecutions were

ASPASIA

31

leveled against Anaxagoras and Pericles, so that the idea might seem general that Aspasia was an immoral woman, Anaxagoras a heretic, and Pericles a thief or embezzler.

A

decree

was passed directing

counts and to submit to a rors.

It

was evident

trial

Pericles to give in his ac-

before fifteen hundred ju-

that the prosecutors believed their

evidence was very weak, as there was a clause in the decree which provided that the offense imputed to Pericles

might be described either as embezzlement, or, by a more general name, as coming under the head of “public wrong.” It does not seem that any save the case of Aspasia came to trial, and Pericles pleaded her cause. He evidently found the Athenians seriously prejudiced against her, and Athenseus says that so serious were his efforts to clear her that he burst into tears and probably wrought her deliverance almost entirely by personal influence. We hear no more of his own trial, “yet,” says Thirlwall, in his

was a persuasion so widely spread among the ancients as to have lasted even to modern times, that his dread of the prosecution which hung over him, and his consciousness that his expenditure of the public money would not bear a scrutiny, were at least among the motives that induced him to kindle the war “History of Greece,”

“it

which put an end to the thirty years’ truce.” At the end of the first campaign in the Peloponnesian war Pericles delivered to the memories of the slain that oration, reported by Thucydides, which Anthon declares

most remarkable of all the compositions of antiquity,” wherein the character of a good citizen, such as he who had fought valiantly and died for his country is depicted with thrilling eloquence and singular felicity. And this brings us to that most important and bestknown aspect of the life of Aspasia, for we have an ac-

to be “the

— FAMOUS WOMEN

32

count of her eloquence, and her cles,

whom

she loved,

who

skill in

teaching

so loved her,

and

it

to Peri-

this

account

appears in the words of Socrates, as related in Plato’s book called “Menexenus.” Now, although the words were possibly not spoken by Socrates, as the dates are confused and many of Plato’s alleged writings are attacked as spurious, still we may assuredly obtain an instructive view of how sincerely the ancients believe that Aspasia was the true source of the noblest thoughts and utterances of Pericles.

Menexenus asks “Do you think, Socrates, that you would be able to speak, yourself, if it were requisite, and the council were to select you ?” Socrates: It would be nothing wonderful, for my teacher happens to be a woman by no means contemptible in oratory, but who has made many other persons good speakers, and one of them superior to all the Greeks :

Pericles, the son of Xanthippus.

you mean Aspasia. Only yesterday I heard Socrates: I Aspasia going through a funeral oration, for she had heard what you tell me, that the Athenians were going to choose the person to speak. And then she went through partly on the instant what it would be proper to say, and partly what she had formerly thought of when, it seems, she was composing the funeral oration that Pericles pronounced, and was gluing together some scraps from that. Could you remember what she said ? Menexenus Socrates Unless I do her wrong, at least I learnt it from her; listen, then, for she spoke, commencing, as I think, with the mention of the dead themselves in this manner: “As regards our acts, these patriots have received all the honors due to them; and, after receiving them, are now proceeding on their fated road, having

Menexenus:

It is plain that

do mean

:

:

her.

;

ASPASIA

33

common and individually and friends. But as regards our words, the honor still left undone the law enjoins us to pay to the men and it is meet to do so. For of deeds performed nobly the remembrance of a well-spoken speech is an honor paid to those who have acted from those who hear. There been sent onward by the state in

by

their families

;

is

need, then, of such a discourse as shall praise sufficiently

the dead and kindly advise the living, by exhorting the

descendants and brethren of the dead to imitate their valor

and by comforting their fathers and their mothers and whoever of their ancestors more remote are still alive. From whence shall ye rightly begin to praise those great men, who, when living, delighted their friends with their valor, and bartered their death for the safety of those who survived ?

“To me ground of

it

seems that

we must

their nature, as they

praise

them on the

were by nature good.

Now, they were good by being sprung from Let us then celebrate, in the in the second, their nurture

first place, their

the good.

noble birth

and education and afterwards ;

us show forth their conduct in practice, how they proved it to be honorable and worthy of those advantages. let

“In the

was

first place,

the

commencement of

their nobility

in the birth of their ancestors, not being incomers,

but sprung from the earth.

“Thus born and educated, lived the ancestors of these persons, after having framed a polity, which it is well For a polity to bring in a few words to your recollection. the conand men good of one is the nurse of men a good ;

trary of bad.

It is

necessary then to show* that our an-

were brought up under a good polity through which they became good and those also who live now. The same polity of men was then, as it now is, an aristocracy, under which we still live as citizens, and for the

cestors

Voi,.

5—3

34

FAMOUS WOMEN

most part have done so from that time to this. One person calls it a democracy, another by another name, such as he pleases. But it is in truth a government by the best, combined with a good opinion of the people. For kings have ever existed with us, at one time hereditary, at another elected, but the people, possessing for the most part the power of the state, have delegated the offices and government to those who were successively deemed to be the best; and no man has ever been excluded because he had influence or wealth or was ignorant of his parentage, nor held in honor for the contrary reasons, as is done in other cities; but there was only one limitation, that he who was deemed to be wise and good should possess the power and office. Now the cause of this polity is the equality of birth. For other states are made up of men of every country and of unequal conditions, so that their polities, as well tyrannies as oligarchies, are of unequal character.

They slaves,

some considering each other as some as masters, but we and ours, born all brethren,

therefore lived,

from one mother, consider ourselves neither the

slaves nor

the lords of each other but that the equality of our purse, ;

according to nature, compels us to seek an equality of

government, according to law, and to yield to each other

upon no other ground except the reputation of valor and of mind. Hence it is that the fathers of these men, and ours also, and themselves, too, being thus nurtured in all freedom, and .nobly born, have exhibited before all men many and glorious deeds, both in private and public, deeming it their duty to fight for freedom, and in behalf of Greeks even against Greeks, and against Barbarians in But such acts as no poet defence of Greeks combined. has yet thrown round them a renown suited to their worth, it seems I ought by praising to call to mind, and by introducing them to others make them a subject for strong

:

ASPASIA and other kind of poetry, actors.

When

in the

35

manner becoming the

the Persians were taking their leave of

Asia and attempting to enslave Europe, the children of this soil and our forefathers arrested their course. Now

known what men Marathon punished the pride of all Asia and taught that all wealth and all numbers must yield to> valor. I say then that these men were the

a person living at that period would have of valor they were,

who

at

fathers not only of our bodies, but of the liberty, likewise

of ourselves and of

all

together on this continent.”

Later on in the oration there was this touching passage (Socrates, quoting Aspasia)

:

“It

is

meet, then, to hold

remembrance those two who died in that civil war by each other’s hands, and to reconcile them as we best can, by offering prayers and sacrifices on these occasions to the deities, who now have them in their power, forasmuch as we, ourselves, are reconciled. For not through malice and hatred did they lay hands on each other, but through their evil fortune, for, being of the same family with them we have forgiven each other for what we have done and in

suffered.

“These were the words of those who lie buried here and who have died for the state. Imagine, then, you hear them speaking what I now relate as their messenger O children That ye are indeed the offspring of courageous fathers the present deed itself declares. For when it was the rest

!

in

our power to

live

we

with dishonor,

chose to die with

honor, rather than to bring you 'and those after you into disgrace,

and shame our own fathers and

all

our ancestors,

conceiving that to him that dishonors his family life

;

and that to such a fellow there

is

life is

no

no man or God upon

earth a friend while living, nor under

it

when

dead.

It

behooves you, then, to keep these our words in remembrance; and

if

you

practice anything else to practice

it

FAMOUS WOMEN

36

with valor, well knowing that, deficient in possessions and pursuits are base and wrong.

does wealth bring honor to him

want of manliness,

who

since such a one

is

this, all

other

For neither

possesses

it

with a

rich for another

and

not for himself, nor do beauty and the strength when they dwell with a coward and a knave, appear becoming,

but unbecoming, rather, and spicuous and

show

make

the possessor

more con-

off his cowardice.”

The

orator concludes with a noble eulogy of the old — proverb “Nothing too much” — moderation that

all

things.

in

is,

How that the man of moderation is the man of

courage, such as they hold themselves to be; they there-

same “For our condition is about to have an end which is the most honorable among men; so that it is becoming rather to glorify than to lament it.* Keeping, then, these things in mind, you ought to bear your calamity more lightly, for then you will be most dear to the dead and living, and most ready to receive comfort. “And now, do you and all the rest, having in common, according to custom, wept fully the dead, depart.” Menexenus: By Zeus, Socrates, you proclaim Aspasia to be a happy person if, being a woman, she is able to compose such speeches as these. If you do not credit it, follow me and you Socrates fore entreat their sorrowing parents to adopt the

sentiments.

:

shall hear her speak

it

herself.

The plague as well as war now came upon Greece and the two sons of Pericles, by his first wife, died, and Pericles procured the passage of a law by which the children of illegal

marriages might be made legitimate.

His son by

Aspasia was thus empowered to assume his father’s name.

The Peloponnesian war had reached only its second year when the great statesman died, and the remainder of As* For the full text, see Plato’s Works,

Book Menexenus.

ASPASIA

37

pasia’s history is too obscure to offer reasonable

grounds

for surmise.

last

It is apparent,

however, that to the

of his

life

two of

the very greatest souls,

the pair stood together, in heart

day

and* deed,

man and woman,

that have

taken each other by the hand on the public theater of the world. If

you look on the

of Athens;

hills

building with pillars about

it

oblong in

you see any form any Partheif

;

non, anywhere, you see Pericles, the sublime of speech; who speaks to you with Phidias for amanuensis, and the chisel of Phidias for

pen or

stylus.

As

the Acropolis

burst into architectural beauty and the Jupiter of Phidias

gleamed with a rich nation’s store of gold, the demaset up the cry of extravagance. “Put my name on these edifices,” cried Pericles, “and I will pay their cost.” Such was Pericles at the summit of august Athenia’s glory. Had not Pericles builded, Byron could not have sung. And if you open the history of the Peloponnesian war, you may read the eleven chapters or paragraphs wherein Thucydides has embalmed the glorious remains of an eloquence that once stirred the pride of Attica and the alarm of Sparta Pericles, the genius of Democracy. He knew by instinct that the natural rule gogues

—

among men was tience,

the best.

He

and held himself so dear

corrected his

own impa-

to the sight of the citizens

that they, improving their rare opportunities to hear him,

dwelt seriously on the wise things which he advised.

no one

at

home

could rival his genius, so the other Greek

republics hearkened to their forebodings

war which ruined followed,

As

all.

The

and the Athenians,

and began the

plague, handmaiden of war, to increase their

ills,

humili-

ated their great heart.

But though Athens might spring upon her leader from the ambuscade of folly and ingratitude; though Pericles

38

FAMOUS WOMEN

might be deprived of command and stripped of property, still possessed the self-denying fidelity of Aspasia, and though Athens might afterward contritely restore him, whose absence endangered her poor security, he needed no reinstatement to that feminine devotion which he had both enjoyed and deserved. The love and esteem which

he

Aspasia bore to Pericles silenced the scruples of woman-

hood and defied the voice of scandal. She waived the honors which the statutes denied, and by her devotion to her lord and her fealty to Athens preserved in history a place among the great and virtuous women of the world. Pericles and Aspasia—-law-makers, statesmen, demagogues, could not put them asunder; history married them with the solemn march and ceremony of time; religion, patriotism, philosophy, art, and affection venerated and exalted their names love, leading them through sorrow and disasters, which failed to reach their inner hearts, at last, with his golden arrow, inscribed their names upon ;

the immortal scroll that lovers read with fond eyes forever.

CORNELIA B.

i6q

C.

a mother’s influence

“Why, my

sons,

must

ever be called the daughter of

I

Scipio rather than the mother of the Gracchi ?”

Such was the ambitious taunt by which the great and illustrious dame urged her two sons onward toward two rebellions.

When

the

Campanian lady paraded her many jewels

before Cornelia, the haughty mother of the patriots replied,

taking her

little

children by the

hand

:

“These are

my jewels !” Her

cause might perish in the political rancors of the

hour, but her proud

Roman

spirit,

emulated by millions of other

mothers, was finally to carry the

Roman

legions

triumphant to the limits of the known world.

The

and the two Gracchi, her come down only in fragmentary form, and must be fitted together from the casual writings of Velleius Paterculus (a hostile authority), Valerius Maximus (who history of Cornelia

sons, has

relates the episode of the jewels), Florus, Cicero,

Quin-

of Unsuccessful and Plutarch. course, sedition, and the ancient authors cannot be criticised for branding the attempts of the two Roman statesrevolution

tilian,

men

to restore to the people the

common

is,

property stolen

from them by the wealthy families of the commonwealth. The most praiseworthy, intelligent and artistic weaving together of the fragmentary Roman story with which

we have any

acquaintance

is

39

to be found in Froude’s

FAMOUS WOMEN

4o

“Caesar,” at the third chapter, and

we

shall follow his

growing out of the laws passed

relation of the events

at

the behest of the Gracchi.

Cornelia was born about 160 years before the Christian era,

and about 329 years

later

than Aspasia.

edly the heroic sentiments of the Greek

Undoubt-

woman made

a deep impression upon Cornelia, for she early became a profound student of the Greek literature. She was the

daughter of Scipio Africanus, the

elder,

the splendor of her house that Ptolemy,

and such was

King

of Egypt,

asked for her hand in marriage, but she, with the pride that characterized her

life,

responded that she would rather

be the wife (or widow) of a

Roman

citizen

than the con-

sort of a barbarian monarch.

She married into a plebeian house, but her husband, Sempronius Gracchus, was a distinguished soldier in Spain and Sardinia, and a member of a family which had furnished consuls to the state. He had held the great office of censor, and in this capacity he had ejected disreputable senators from the curia; he had degraded offending equites he had rearranged and tried to purify the Comitia. Notwithstanding his close relations with the aristocrats (for his daughter married the second most famous of the Scipios, called Africanus, the younger), he ;

still

left

behind him, at the time of his early death, the

reputation of a reformer, a

man

little satisfied

with the

and it might well be feared by the sons would follow in the same line of

constitution of things,

wealthy that his public policy.

“There is a story told,” says Plutarch, in his “Tiberius and Caius Gracchus,” “that Tiberius (Sempronius) once found in his bedchamber a couple of snakes, and the soothsayers, being consulted concerning the prodigy, advised

that he should neither kill

them both nor

let

them both

JEWELS

Schopin

HER

L. AND

by

Painting

CORNELIA

CORNELIA escape, adding that

pronius should

die,

if

4*

the male serpent were killed,

and

that, therefore, Tiberius,

if

Sem-

And

the female, Cornelia.

who

extremely loved his wife,

and thought, besides, that it was much more his part, who was an old man, to die, than it was hers, who was as yet but a young woman, killed the male serpent and let the female escape, and soon after himself died. Cornelia, taking upon herself all the care of the household, and the education of her children, approved herself so discreet a matron, so affectionate a mother, and so constant and noble-spirited a

widow, that Sempronius seemed

to

all

men

to have done nothing unreasonable in choosing to die for

such a woman.”

Twelve “children were born to Sempronius, and at her widow was left, not only to care for them, but to bear the loss by death of no less than nine of her offspring, leaving only Tiberius and Caius, and the wife of the young Scipio as the support of her declining years. “The education she gave them,” says Samuel Knapp, “made them inordinately ambitious, but at the same time nobly patriotic. When they were quite young she was impatient to see them taking a part for the glories of Rome, which, she thought, were expiring in the hands This excellent mother did not leave of the patricians. their education even when they had reached manhood, for she, by her eloquence, persuaded them to study the Greek philosophy, in which all the ennobling principles of husband’s death the

freedom are to be found.” “She brought up her children with so much care,” says Plutarch, “that though they were, without dispute, in natural

endowments and

dispositions the first

Romans of their time, yet they seemed to owe

among

even more to their education than to their birth. in the statues

the

their virfues

And

as,

and pictures made of Castor and Pollux,

FAMOUS WOMEN

42

though the brothers resemble one another, yet there

is

a

difference to be perceived in their countenances, between

the one

who

was famous

delighted in the cestus, and the other that

between these two noble was a strong general likeness in their common love of fortitude and temperance, in their liberality, their eloquence, and their greatness of mind, yet, in their actions and administration of public affairs, a conTheir valor in war siderable variation showed itself. in the course, so,

youths, though there

against their country's enemies,"

continues

the great

Greek biographer, “their justice in the government of its and industry in office, and their self-

subjects, their care

command

in all that regarded their pleasures

remarkable in both."

Plutarch attributes

It is clear that

these qualities, so clearly

marked

were equally

in both brothers, as the

result of their mother’s sublime teaching.

He

believes

that they failed in their noble enterprise mainly because

there were nine years of difference in their ages, and that

they thus could not flourish together and unite the power that they wielded. Cicero, the greatest orator the

bears witness:

“We

Roman world

have read the

the mother of the Gracchi, from which

sons were educated, not so

much

produced,

letters of Cornelia, it

appears that the

in the lap of the mother,

as in her conversation."

Quintilian informs us that the Gracchi were indebted for

much

of their eloquence to the care and institutions of

their mother, Cornelia,

whose

fully displayed in her letters,

taste and learning were which were in the hands of

the public in his day.

Later on, however, in her sad career, the mother may have offered to Shakespeare his idea of Lady Macbeth, who, urging her husband to passages of ambition from

which brave men might

recoil, finds herself

unable to sup-

CORNELIA

43

drawn down upon her house by her own and leaves Macbeth in that baleful solitude which

port calamities counsel,

hangs

like

tragedy.

betraying

a pall over the

final scenes

of the great English

Cornelia, too, writes letters to her son, Caius, all

the weakness and fond compunctions of the

mother-heart, as

we

shall see, so that they

seemed to

in after life she

little feel

boast of the glory of her sons,

knew

her

who

held that

and rather of her life and

loss,

little

sorrow. Tiberius Gracchus, the elder son of Cornelia, was ad-

mitted to the College of the Augurs (priests) on attaining

manhood, out of recognition of his early virtue. At a public feast of the Augurs, Appius Claudius, who> had been consul and censor, and was now at the head of the Senate, offered to Tiberius the hand of his daughter in marriage, which Tiberius gladly accepted. Appius, returning home, had no sooner reached .his door than he cried out to his wife: “O, Antistia, I have contracted our daughter Claudia to a husband.”

She, with amaze“But why so suddenly, unless you have provided Tiberius Gracchus for her husband?” Tiberius now went with the army to Carthage, and served under his brother-in-law, Scipio', sharing the same He was the first to mount the tent with the commander. wall of Carthage when the city was taken, and was regarded by the entire army with affection. Later on the young soldier covered himself with luster in Spain, because, when the Roman general Mancinus fell into deep troubles, the Numantines would treat with no other than Tiberius, whose father they remembered with affection. By means of this popularity, the lives of twenty thousand Roman soldiers were spared, but the action of Tiberius was jealously censured by the Patricians at Rome, and Tiberius was brought early into a sense of

ment, answered

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

44

hostility to the state of things that prevailed.

In this

was ardently supported by the voice and influence of his mother, and the great name of Scipio contributed to make him powerful with all classes. Returning on his sad journey from Spain, his route lying through Tuscany, north of Rome, he saw with his feeling he

own

eyes that only slaves tilled the

The

fields.

free citi-

zens had been pushed into the towns, aliens and outcasts in their

could lords

own

country, without a foot of soil which they

call their

own.*

had not been even

a law forbidding

which could be lords,

it,

the

legally

the vast domains of the land-

fairly purchased; for,

commons, or ager leased

to

occupants

despite publicus,

only

in

had been seized by the and there was none of the public domain

comparatively great

And

small

farms,

remaining for smaller lessees or proprietors.

Tiberius

resolved to restore the people’s patrimony, and secured

the office of Tribune in the year 133, Cornelia being active in the canvass, and the issue of public lands being clear.

The poor people

up writings on the walls, calling upon Tiberius to reinstate them in their former possessions. The Tribunes were once powerful magistrates, who must be elected out of plebeian families, but the Senate had silently usurped many of their functions, and it had been the custom of the Tribunes for some time to submit their bills for laws to the review of the Senate before convoking set

the assembly of the people in the forum.

Tiberius went directly to the people. that himself, his brother

But, this time,

His

bill

provided

Caius, and his father-in-law,

Appius, should act as a land commission to evict trespassers

from the public domain and

if

need be to pay such ten-

ants the value of their improvements.

One

of the Trib-

unes, going over to the Senatorial party, interposed his * F roude’s “ Caesar.”

CORNELIA veto, which,

pone

all

45

under the Constitution, would defeat or postone year. Tiberius incited the

legislation for

people to infringe the constitution by deposing the apostate Tribune, which was done without other warrant than the public vote, and the agrarian law

was put in full force. But the year in which a Tribune held office was too short a time in which to carry out a great reform, and for the sake of the people, Tiberius offered himself for re-

which the Patricians might truly denounce as a The election day arrived, and the nobles gathered on the Campus Martius with enormous retinues of armed servants and clients. The voting began, and as it was seen that Gracchus would be elected a second time, a fight with pikes and spades was set up the unarmed citizens ran away, and Tiberius with three hundred of his friends who remained to defend themselves, were killed and their bodies flung into the Tiber. For Tiberius had been an opponent over whom the aristocracy must triumph or moderate its privileges, and it did not feel sufficiently generous to broaden the possi“The bilities of life for the poor in the Roman Empire. election,

seditious act.

;

savage beasts,” said Tiberius, when the people revised the agrarian law, “in Italy have their particular dens; they

have their places of repose and refuge but the men who ;

bear arms, and expose their lives for the safety of their country, enjoy in the meantime nothing

more

in

it

but the

and the light own, are constrained to wander from place to place with their wives and children. The common soldiers are exhorted to fight for their sepulchers and altars, when not one amongst so many Romans is possessed of either altar or monument neither have they any houses of their They own, or hearths of their ancestors to defend. fought indeed and were slain, but it was to maintain the air

;

and having no houses or settlements of

their

;

FAMOUS WOMEN

46

luxuries and the wealth of other men.

They were

styled

the masters of the world, but, in the meantime, had not one foot of ground which they could call their own.”

When,

was

which was the first bloody revolution or dissension that had occurred in Rome from the time of Tarquin, it was set up as law and doctrine that the sacred rights of property had been maintained, and that Tiberius had perished because he plotted to be King. Even Scipio, the brother-in-law, found it expedient to condemn the policy of Tiberius, and to flatter therefore, the riot

over,

the Senate. It now became feasible to repeal the law of Tiberius, though the outcry of the people grew every day more im-

portunate.

Caius Gracchus retired from city

politics,

being elected Questor and thus compelled to journey with the Consul into Sardinia.

While

this pleased

him,

it

also

delighted the landlords, for, from what they had seen of

young man, he gave promise of becoming a far more thorough demagogue and far more ambitious than even Tiberius had been of popular applause. Yet Cicero declares that Caius would have lived privately for his mother’s sake, but that his dead brother appeared to him in a dream, and, calling him by his name, said “Why do you tarry, Caius? There is no escape; one life and one death is appointed for us both to spend the one, and to

the

:

—

meet the other in the service of the people.” The Senate fatuously pursued Caius

with

petty

and he in return re-entered the arena of poliand was easily elected one of the Tribunes, exactly

prosecution, tics,

ten years later than his brother. stantly invoked the

name

In his speeches he con-

of his sorrowing mother, Cor-

on the masses, who already held her in the profoundest and most affecCaius was a bitter orator, and neglected tionate esteem. nelia,

and never without immediate

effect

;

CORNELIA no opportunity, however

47

delicate or dangerous, to inflame

He

the people against the Senate.

exiled

many

of the

murderers of his brother he distributed meat to the peohe voted pay to the soldiers he greatly reduced the ;

ple ;

;

power

that the Senate

was wielding.

course became so bold that

now

it

seems that his

It

who was had retired on She who had madly urged

alarmed Cornelia,

living again in Campania, whither she

the death of her son Tiberius.

on Tiberius, to whom were principally addressed the words at the beginning of this article, now appears to have

shown a reactionary

side of her character; for there are

preserved in the fragments of Cornelius Nepos, letters to

Caius from Cornelia that urged him to recede from his position.

“You

me,” she says, “that

tell

be revenged of our enemies. I do, if

it is

No one thinks

glorious to

so

more than

we can be revenged without hurt to the Republic, may our enemies escape. Long may

but, if not, often

they be safe,

if

the good of the

commonwealth

requires

their safety.”

In a

letter

written to Caius by Cornelia after he was

well along in his warfare

upbraids her son

:

on the Senate, the mother even

“I take the gods to witness, that ex-

who killed my son Tiberius, no one ever gave me so much affliction as you do in this matter—-you, from whom I might have expected some consolation in my old age, and who, surely, of all my children, ought to

cept the persons

be most careful not to distress me. to live. I I

I

have not many years

Spare the Republic that long for

my sake.

Shall

never see the madness of my family at an end ? When am dead, you will think to honor me with a parent’s rites

my memory

from you, by whom I am abandoned and dishonored while I live ? But may the gods forbid you should persist! If you do, I but what honor can

receive

FAMOUS WOMEN

48

you are taking leads to remorse and distrac-* end only with your life.” When Caius had abolished the right of Senators to sit on juries where the cases of corrupt magistrates, such as pro-consuls and governors of provinces, were to be tried, fear the course

tion,

which

will

he put nearly every Senator in a position of jeopardy, for these corrupt governors were recruited

from the ranks of

when he made the public distribution of wheat, he began the work of undermining his own influence, because a pauperized Rome could be more easily dethe Senate, and

bauched by wealthy Patricians.

Yet he was a second first reef on

time elected Tribune, and certainly passed the

which

his brother’s ship

had

split.

He now

desired to

mob that he at last had full power to govern. wanted to found Roman colonies, and even the hated name of Carthage was selected as one of the points of settlement. On this the Senate took the demagogue’s side of the argument, and easily pictured to the populace the exile which their leader had in view for them, after he had attained to power on their shoulders. Caius unhappily played into the hands of the Senators by proposing that there should be no distinction between Romans and benefit the

He

1

Italians,

thus enfranchising the entire peninsula.

To

mention the name of Carthage had once been treason, and the bitterest prejudices were awakened by the plans of Caius. What was better than to remain Roman citizens as they were ? asked they. It began to appear that Caius no longer honored his mother and the Scipios, and that the

Roman

Republic was again in danger.

Thus when the

time of election once more came, the popular party had

dwindled to a handful and the Senate was prepared to

He, at last, retiring to on bended knee, and, uplifting his

proscribe the offending Tribune.

Diana’s temple,

fell

CORNELIA

49

head, prayed to the goddess that the

punishment for

their ingratitude

Roman

people, as a

and treachery

to their

true friends, might always remain in slavery.

In the street battles which

now

took place, as in the

who offered no resistance, was and no less than three thousand dead bodies of his friends were flung into the Tiber as traitors who were unworthy of religious burial. time of Tiberius, Caius,

soon

killed,

The

leader

of

the

oligarchs

against

Opimius, erected a Temple of Concord, and act with other aristocratic doings

back the tide of popular opinion.

Caius,

one

this sardonic

which followed, turned

When,

in after years,

Opimius had been convicted of embezzlement, he grew old amidst the hatred and insults of the people; who, though humbled and affrighted at the time of the murder of Caius, did not fail before long to let everybody see what respect and veneration they had for the memory of the Gracchi.* They ordered their statues to be made and set up in public view they consecrated the places where they were slain and thither brought the first fruits of every;

thing, according to the season of the year, to

make

their

Many came likewise thither to their devotions, and daily worshiped there, as at the temples of their gods.

offerings.

“It

is

reported/’ says Plutarch, “that as Cornelia, their

mother, bore the loss of her two sons with a noble, un-

daunted

spirit,

so in reference to the holy places in which

they were slain she said their dead bodies were well worthy of such sepulchres.

“She removed afterward, and dwelt near the place Misenum, not at all altering her former way of living. She had many friends and hospitably received many strangers at her house. Many Greeks and learned called

* Plutarch’s “ Caius Gracchus:” Voi,.

5—4

FAMOUS WOMEN

5°

men were continually about her nor was ;

there any foreign

Prince but received gifts from her, and presented her

Those who conversed with her were much interested when she pleased to entertain them with her recollec-

again.

tions of her father, the great Scipio Africanus

stroyer of Carthage), and of his habits and

But

it

was most admirable

to

hear her

(the de-

way of living. make mention

of her sons, without any tears or signs of grief, and give

the full account of

all their

deeds and misfortunes, as

if

she had been relating the history of some ancient heroes.

This made some imagine that age, or the greatness of her

had made her senseless and devoid of natural But they who so thought were themselves more truly insensible, not to see how much a noble nature and education availed to conquer any affliction and though fortune may often be more successful, and may defeat the afflictions

feelings.

;

efforts of virtue

we

to>

defeat misfortunes,

it

cannot,

when

incur them, prevent our bearing them reasonably.

“As

for the Gracchi/’ concludes Plutarch, “the great-

and their worst enemies, could not but allow had a genius to virtue beyond all other Romans, which was improved also by a generous education.” It is probable that the letters alleged to have been written to Caius by his mother, represent the temporary influence of aristocratic surroundings on the mother, for est detractors

that they

it is

related of her that, after the death of Caius,

when

some one offered to her the usual condolences, she said, “Can the mother of the Gracchi want consolation?” and her spirit must have been edified by the public honors that were so soon paid to her sons and that she knew would

—

round out her own career.

when she died, the people of Rome erected a monument to her memory, and finally she had the wish For,

:

CORNELIA of her younger days the

monument

—an honor so

5'

terribly earned.

On

of the daughter of the greater Scipio, of

the wife of the brave Sempronius, of the mother-in-law

of the lesser Scipio, were inscribed only the words

CORNELIA MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI.

CLEOPATRA B. C. 69-30

"the sorceress of the nile”

The

story of Cleopatra

cient world,

made such a

noise in the an-

and was the cause of an astonishment so pro-

found, that the authors of antiquity left very complete accounts, which the curiosity of succeeding generations,

or some other good fortune, has preserved.

The modern world cause, with a

peruses this chapter in history be-

knowledge of humanity broadened by two

thousand years of additional experience,

it is

to be seen

that the actors in this ancient tragedy were conspicuous

examples of human nature under the influence of the arbitrary

passion

An Antony

of love.

play their sad parts before us

all,

at

and the mystery and marvel of

and Cleopatra some time in our lives,

it

never diminish.

In

city, in every town, village, and hamtwo people there are, in each generation, who love each other, and whose love brings desolation, where

every circle of every let,

at least

other people’s affections begin a life-long joy. It is

common

type of the pagan

for moralists to point to Cleopatra as a

woman, or woman

the Christian era; but this

is

as she existed before

manifestly an error.

We

have seen that the noble Aspasia and Cornelia both lived

we have the celebration made the ideal woman in the

before Cleopatra, and in Judith of the characteristics which early world. live to-day.

Cleopatras lived along with Judith; they

There

is

no sign that the time will ever come arise, and by her wit, learn-

when some woman may not

52

— CLEOPATRA ing, beauty,

“magnetism,” and

53

turn-stile caprice, trans-

form the wisest man into a lover and a fool. Cleopatra wrought on at least five leading men Caesar, Antony, Herod, Dolabella (the intimate friend of Augustus), and Augustus himself. She ensnared Caesar, but he, an elderly and judicious man, escaped; she ruined Antony; she could have ruined Dolabella had she tarried on the earth which she had disgraced; her charms fell on Herod of Judea and on Augustus, without harm to either. It is not probable that all men are open to the terrible disorder that overcame Caesar and took an empire away from Antony; for it was not Cleopatra’s fault that she did not carry war, death and devastation further into the world.

As it was, this beautiful woman, who died at 39 years, who read, wrote and spoke with ease in the hieroglyphical, cuneiform, hieratic, demotic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages; who could converse with the Troglodytes, Libyans, Scythians, and other barbarians, without an interpreter; who had received a throne in the oldest country in the world; this woman, by a career of unparalleled waste and folly, erased her kingdom from the map of the world, reduced Egypt to a province, in which condition it has remained; and even gave to the historians a new era the Era of the Actian Victory (the defeat of Antony), from which to reckon all dates in Egyptian affairs. She blotted out her nation and her calendar. And yet, foolish and wicked as she was, she loved Antony, she died with Antony, and the world, with rich wisdom and

—

philosophy, somewhat reverently repeats her doings to suc-

ceeding generations.

It is

a pity that Beauty and Genius

should curse the world, and so;

it is

it is

a pity that Love should

not often that they do afflict

the world, for

usually covers life with blessings and honor.

upon which we now

enter, therefore, is

The

it

chapter

one of abstract

FAMOUS WOMEN

54

whereby we may learn that moral lessons are But we think it would be well to despise Cleopatra, to pity Antony, and to condemn Caesar, for he had not the excuse of Antony; Caesar could and did finally resist; over Antony the wasteful and vile siren cast a spell that was paramount in his nature. instruction,

not always successfully fetched out of history.

The panel of

main

—

ancient writers about Cleopatra are the entire

Roman and Greek

all

say something.

sodes in which

whose works reEven Josephus details the epi-

Herod had a

historians

share.

-Hirtius, the contin-

uator of Caesar's Commentaries, Dion Cassius, Suetonius,

Appian, Diodorus, Strabo, Florus, Velleius Paterculus, Julian, Orosius, Eutropius, even Livy,

and the almost com-

—that man to whom the modern world,

plete Plutarch'

in

peering backward, owes the most—'these are the writers.

which the people believed there was a embodied and impersonated this deity; the like of her had never been seen or read of, and she became the most conspicuous object in men's minds at the very moment that the Roman world seemed about to be dismembered. Egypt was the granary of that Roman world, and Alexandria had become the principal market of civilization, taking away the prestige of the Phoenician and Attic coasts. The kingdom of the Ptolemies had endured over 250 years, following the death of Alexander the Great, but at the time of Cleopatra’s father, Auletes was showIt

was a time

in

goddess Venus; Cleopatra

was too near the invincible repubAs Cuba was lic; its wheat was too necessary to Rome. certain to become a part of the United States, so Egypt must fall. It was the Egyptian question that did much to separate Caesar, Cicero and Pompey, and when Auletes, ing signs of decay.

It

CLEOPATRA was dethroned, him to power.

it

55

was the money of Pompey

The very name

that restored

of Auletes (flute-player) betrayed the

character of this effeminate King, and Cleopatra came by

He

her folly honestly.

probably offered the example that

Nero afterward followed. Auletes danced in female attire and contested for the prize in public games. He was called the

new Bacchus because of his

Strabo says he was despised for his his grandfather

Physcon for

extravangances, and silliness as

his wickedness.

It

much

as

was out

of this kind of stock, in a land where the King could do no wrong, at a time when the world was breaking up in tremendous wars, that Cleopatra was born. She was 17 years old when Auletes, died, and though the eldest of the four children of Auletes she' was too young to reign under the law. But it must be understood that she had

long been a woman, for in the east the period of childhood is

greatly shortened. It is needless to

attempt to describe her.

Taste

is

a

matter that varies with every climate, and the belle of one region

is

an object of

ridicule or

ignominy

in another.

We may suppose her short, large-waisted, and dark; things are probable

;

whether her

lips

those

were large or small,

her teeth white and prominent, or small and inconspicuous,

we know not;

beautiful.

her eyes, of course, were intelligent and

It is probable,

that her face

conformed

all

was Greek, and the Romans, who were

models, for her blood Africa,

however,

things considered,

fairly well to the

Greek

classic

well naturalized to thin

and Caucasian,

would not have admired a strictly African type. Whatever her appearance, it was nearly without flaw under the canons of physical taste that ruled, and we should always think of Cleopatra as a woman who, to the men of her generation, seemed the ideal of human beauty.

FAMOUS WOMEN

56

Her

father, in his will, left his throne to the

children,

Roman

two

eldest

Ptolemy and Cleopatra, under the tuition of the and Pompey was appointed by the Roman

people,

Senate to be the guardian of the children

—the two sons

were both named Ptolemy, and the younger daughter, Arsinoe. The elder brother and sister Ptolemy and Cleopatra were commanded to marry each other, under the Egyptian custom, and to reign together. But at this very time the civil war of Caesar and Pompey broke out. The commander of the Egyptian army was Achillas, and he conspired with Ptolemy against Cleopatra and drove her out of Egypt. She raised an army, and the two Egyptian armies were confronting each other at Pelusium (now Tineh) when Pompey and Caesar met at the battle of

—

—

Pharsalia.

came into promiGreeks and Turks fought a

Pharsalia, flow Pharsala,

nence again in 1896, when the battle there. It is north of Athens, in Thessaly.

As Pom-

pey retreated, he bethought him of Auletes and his dren, to

and

whom

set sail for

chil-

he had restored a throne with his money, Egypt, expecting a safe asylum.

Pompey concluded

to treat with Ptolemy,

ingly asked permission to land.

and accord-

Notwithstanding the

was considered by murder the guardian of the Egyptian kingdom, because Caesar was now master acknowledged baseness of the

act, it

Achillas to be wise to ensnare and

of the world.

Caesar, following

hard

after,

landed at

Alexandria, east of Pelusium, and there he was given the

head of Pompey. He had brought 4,000 troops all told, and yet saw no indications of danger. But, when he landed, the capricious Egyptians again changed their minds, and so valiant was the mob that the few troops he

had were separated, and while Caesar reached the King’s palace with a part of his force, the rest were driven back to the ships, but probably under Caesar’s order to retreat.

CYDNUS

RIVER

THE

ON

Alma-Tadema

CLEOPATRA

by

Painting

AND

ANTONY

OF

MEETING

CLEOPATRA

A

few days

later,

Caesar had so conciliated the

he ventured abroad without harm.

was encamped Caesar,

57

mob

that

Meanwhile Cleopatra

at Pelusium.

having considered himself safe in Alexandria,

now assumed the magistracy or guardianship made vacant by the death of Pompey, and demanded of Achillas the return of the money lent by the Romans to re-establish the late Auletes— some $6,000,000. To raise this money Achillas levied the most odious requisitions. He persuaded the young King to eat in earthen and wooden vessels in order to cast odium on Caesar. The temples were plundered of their plate and golden ornaments, in order to exasperate the people against the

The money which was

Roman

conqueror.

raised enabled Caesar to pay his

men.

The courageous Roman now took on

the character of

executor of the will of Auletes and issued peremptory

mandates, in the

name

of the

Roman

people, directing the

two armies to disband, and appointing time and place when and where he would hear and settle the differences between the brother and sister. Each side appointed counsel, and hearings of the cause began in the King’s palace at Alexandria. It seems that Caesar had already heard of the beauty of Cleopatra, and that she had heard he was not averse to seeing her. She therefore sent a private messenger to him, complaining that her cause before him was poorly managed by her counsel, and asking permission Receiving a favorable to appear before him in person. Pelusium with only one attendant, Apollodorus, the Sicilian, and arrived after dark in Alexandria. She was tied up in a mattress, and this, burden reply, she sailed for

Apollodorus carried on his back to Caesar’s apartment,

where the astonished Caesar

first

beheld the beautiful

FAMOUS WOMEN

5*

young woman, and became infatuated at first sight of her. He accordingly heard her story, and on the next day sent for young Ptolemy, whom he, as guardian and Dictator of Rome, advised to receive Cleopatra as a fellow-soverAt the same time, the eign on the Egyptian throne. young King learned that his sister was in the apartments of Caesar, and that the great and powerful Roman was in reality her counsel and best friend. On this the boy went out upon the streets, tore the diadem from his head, and trampled it in the dust, calling the people of Egypt to avenge the shame that had come upon them. He led the mob into the palace and was captured. Caesar appeared on a balcony, and with a conciliatory speech appeased the multitude.

The next ple, Caesar

day, before the regular assembly of the peo-

brought out Ptolemy and Cleopatra, caused the and declared them conjointly

will of Auletes, to be read,

sovereigns of the land, under the protectorate of Rome.

But Pothinus, Ptolemy’s treasurer and a fellow-conspirator with Achillas, circulated the report that Caesar meant to dethrone Ptolemy, and prevailed on Achillas to march with his army from Pelusium to Alexandria, and drive Caesar, with his small force, out of the city. is one of the most remarkable in and shows how implicitly he confided in fortune. He had less than 2,000 soldiers in the palace, where he held both Ptolemy and Cleopatra; he sent smooth talkers to Achillas, who now advanced with 20,Achillas put Caesar’s messengers to death. 000 men.

This

adventure

Caesar’s career,

Caesar so fortified the palace that Achillas could not take it,

and burned

his fleet of ships in order to keep

the enemy’s hands.

made

a

It

Roman camp in

it

out of

seems that Caesar very quickly

the heart of the city; he

had

walls,

towers, parapets, a passage to the harbor, and other war-

CLEOPATRA like

59

appurtenances which were likely to terrify and over-

come

the enemy.

Caesar having killed Pothinus, Ganymedes, another eu-

nuch, fled out of the palace with Arsinoe, the Princess,

and procured the execution of Achillas. Ganymedes now became the opponent of Caesar, and did well. In the battles by sea and land that ensued, Caesar was often in peril, and once swam from one ship to another, holding (according to Orosius) his Commentaries out of the water while he swam. Mithradates of Pontus now marched into Egypt to Caesar’s succor, took Pelusiurn

and, with Caesar, fought

whom

Caesar had previously on a pledge which Ptolemy had broken. Ptolemy was drowned in the Nile. Cleopatra was placed on the throne, and Caesar compelled her to marry her surviv-

a great battle with Ptolemy, liberated

ing brother Ptolemy, then but eleven years old.

Rome, and

Caesar took Arsinoe to

walked

He

in chains of gold.

set

in his

triumph she

her at liberty, but would

not allow her to return to Egypt. Cleopatra bore Caesar a son

named

Caesarion, but she

could not prevail on the great Julius to remain with her;

him away, and she reigned and as Queen Regent for her brother. As soon as the lad had reached the age at which he could lawfully

a

war on

the Black Sea called

as Queen,

him to be poisoned. was now assassinated at Rome, and

reign with her, she caused

Her

friend Caesar

Antony, Lepidus and Octavius (Augustus) triumvirate to avenge his death.

formed a

Cleopatra very loyally

took sides with Antony against Cassius and Brutus, and sent four legions to fight Cassius.

These legions were

tendered to Dolabella (afterward a lover of Cleopatra). Cassius and Brutus, met northeast of Pharsalia

(it

the

triumvirs at Philippi,

seems Grsecia was then “the

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

6o

cockpit of Europe”), and Antony, the conqueror, passed

down the coast of Asia Minor to Taron the Cydnus River, near Mt. Taurus, in Cilicia, a town now called Adana on the maps, although the old

over into Asia, and sus,

quarter

is

locally

known as Tarsus.

was here that Antony tarried, and, hearing that Cleopatra had offered the four legions to Cassius rather than to Dolabella, summoned the Queen of Egypt before him for purposes of explanation. It is this journey by galley from Alexandria to Tarsus, and up the River Cydnus on the Asian coast, that It

offers the chief spectacle in Cleopatra’s

life.

It

has called

forth the descriptive genius of Shakespeare, and

Dryden

did not hesitate to also write in a like vein of the splendor of the scene.

Dellius,

who had

been sent by Antony, no

sooner saw Cleopatra at Alexandria than he advised her to

go

to

Tarsus in the Homeric

style,

telling her that

Antony would be so pleased with the show that he would at once become her friend. She followed this advice, took no offense at the mandatory letters of Antony, made great preparations for her voyage, and pressed heavily upon a rich kingdom for money, ornaments of value, and gifts. Following is the passage in Plutarch’s “Life of Antony” from which Shakespeare forged his metrical account of the royal progress of Cleopatra.

It

should be noted that

the ancient writer himself believed in the incarnation of

the gods

“She came sailing up the River Cydnus in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along under a canopy of cloth-of-gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea-Nymphs and Graces, some

1

CLEOPATRA

6

steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes. The perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with multitudes, part following the

up the

galley

river

on

either bank, part running out of the

city to see the sight.

“The market-place was quite emptied, and Antony, at was left alone, sitting upon the tribunal, while the word went through all the multitude that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus for the common good of Asia. On her arrival, Antony sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should come to her so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he complied and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of lights for on a sudden there was let down so great a number of branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has seldom been equaled last,

;

;

for beauty.”

Plutarch seems to doubt her peerless beauty, but he says that “the contact of her presence, her,

was

irresistible.

The

if

you

lived with

attraction of her person, join-

ing with the charm of her conversation and the character that attended all she said or did, was something bewitching.

It

was a pleasure merely

voice, with which, like

to hear the

sound of her

an instrument of many

strings, she

could pass from one instrument to another.”

The attachment that instantly sprang up between Antony and Cleopatra was scandalous to the Roman Republic.

Caesar had been slain by patriots because he had

acted in a kingly way, and had also had too

with

this

Egyptian Queen.

Now

much

to

do

Fulvia, wife of Antony,

was having her hands full at Rome, even to the extent of directing armed forces, to support his claims against Oc-

FAMOUS WOMEN

62

same time the Roman Empire was threatened in the east. And yet Cleopatra was able to keep Antony under her sway' at Tarsus, and to lure him back to Alexandria, but not until he had sent to Miletus (the birthplace of Aspasia), and put Arsinoe, Cleopatra's sistavius.

At

ter, to

death.

the

At Tarsus

Cleopatra distributed gifts of

golden cups, richly bejeweled, with a profuseness never before heard

of.

At Alexandria the lovers formed a company called “The Inimitable Livers." Plutarch says his own grandfather used to tell of an acquaintance who was taken into Cleopatra's kitchen, where he saw eight boars roasting whole on which the visitor remarked that there must be many guests, but the cook laughed, and stated that no one could tell when Antony would dine. “Maybe," said he, “Antony will sup> just now, maybe not this hour; maybe he will call for wine, or begin to talk, and will put it off. So that it is not one, but many suppers must be ;

kept in readiness, as If

it is

impossible to guess at his hours."

a boar were roasted a moment too long

spoiled.

it

would be were

Gifts of plate in imitation of Cleopatra

by Antony’s son (by Fulvia), and a school of extravagance beyond record or tradition was set up at Alexandria, portending certain ruin and probable disWhile in the midst of these daily festivals, Angrace. tony got word that the Parthians were marching toward him into Syria, and that his wife, Fulvia, had been deHe started feated by Octavius and driven out of Italy. for Syria, but changed his mind, and sailed to meet Octavius with 200 ships. On the way, news of his wife’s (Fulvia’s) death came to him, whereupon it became easily distributed

possible to effect a reconciliation with Octavius, for

An-

tony, breaking off with Cleopatra, married Octavia, the sister

of Octavius, and the

Roman world was

solemnly

CLEOPATRA partitioned,

so that Antony’s

63

rule extended

Ionian or the Adriatic Sea eastward to China.

made a

took Octavia, and

was

from the Antony

splendid court at Athens.

confidently expected by the

Roman

It

Senators that this

compact would bring peace in the west and extend Roman dominion in Asia. And but for Cleopatra this might have been the case, for Antony soon tired of the dignified Octavia and hungered anew for the flattery upon which the fair Egyptian had fed him. As an example of Cleopatra’s mastery of the arts of seduction, Plutarch

tells

the celebrated fishing story

twain went angling with hook and all

the luck, whereupon

line,

Antony gave

:

The

but Cleopatra had

secret orders to the

fishermen to dive under the water and attach live fishes to

and these he drew with great triumph from the But the ruse was betrayed to Cleopatra, so she boasted of Antony’s skill, and invited a fine party to see him fish the next day. No sooner was his hook down in his hook,

water.

the water than one of her people attached to

it

a salted

which Antony drew up amid the laughter of his friends. “Ah, general,” said Cleopatra, “leave the fishing-rod to us poor sovereigns of Pharos (light-house) and Canopus (probably meaning another light-house) your game is cities, provinces and king-

fish

from another

sea,

;

doms.”

When,

Antony entered upon the Parthian war, and had marched into Syria, he sent for his flatterer For he had but just against the advice of his generals. escaped war with Octavius once more through the intervention of Octavia, and it was already the opinion of the Roman world that Antony was not a proper magistrate.

When

therefore,

Cleopatra arrived in Syria, Antony, following her

desires, put several

Syrian Princes to death and gave their

dominions to Cleopatra, thus diminishing the

Roman Em-

FAMOUS WOMEN

64

He then departed into Armenia,

pire.

ing under her absence from him,

but again languish-

made

a forced march

through the mountains of Armenia back to Syria, that killed sixty thousand soldiers through un-

in winter

necessary exposure.

The

guilty lovers spent the rest of

the winter on the Phoenician coast,

when Antony made

over to Egypt (or Cleopatra) a great part of the coast of Syria and Asia Minor. At this time she unsuccessfully begged him to put Herod of Judea to death, and to give Jerusalem to Egypt, but Antony would not comply, although he made some territorial concessions that embittered Herod. These acts destroyed Antony in the good

opinion of the Romans, for they foreign enemy, and an apostate

now regarded him

as a

Roman.

For these gifts Cleopatra consented to march with Antony to the Euphrates River on his way into Parthia. At that river she was prompt to return, and on her journey visited Jerusalem, where she set out to ensnare Herod. Herod, having her in his power, and seeing her perfidy to safe to put her to death, but it was reprehim that Antony’s vengeance would be terrible, whereupon the subtle Hebrew King changed his resolu-

Antony,

felt it

sented to

tion, entertained

her at great expense, and accompanied

her to the borders of his kingdom.

Antony soon followed

her to Alexandria, carrying the Armenian King in captiv-

and entering the city in a triumphal car. Cleopatra, on a golden throne, waited for the conqueror, and to her was presented the King in golden chains but this monarch had been shamefully captured. Thereupon Antony spread a feast for the people of Alexandria, and ity,

seated

;

summoned them

to

meet

in full assembly.

Seated on thrones of gold, side by

and

Cleopatra.

Antony made an

Caesarion, son of Julius Caesar

side, sat

oration,

Antony

declaring

and Cleopatra, joint sov-

CLEOPATRA

^5

ereign of Egypt and Cyprus with Cleopatra his mother; to his

own

three children by Cleopatra he gave each a

third of the remainder of the eastern world, with the

for each of

King

be the god

Osiris',

of Kings.

He

title

proclaimed himself to

and Cleopatra the goddess Isis, and man and woman attired themselves in the costume which graphic superstition had long made peculiar to those deities. It was of course imposhenceforth the infatuated

sible to

were

make

the Egyptians believe that their sovereigns

really gods,

and Octavius made good use of An-

tony’s folly to further incense the

Romans

against the

Eastern Triumvir.

While Octavius would have undoubtedly broken with Antony in time, still the adoption of Caesarion by Antony was an act alarming to the Western Triumvir, who had come to power because he was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. So, also, Cleopatra madly sought a rupture, because that must divorce Antony from Octavia. Therefore conditions

No

now

all

conspired toward Antony’s ruin.

sooner had Antony started on another Parthian expe-

dition than he found

it

necessary to prepare to meet

Octavius, whose intentions were certainly hostile.

now had

Cleopatra with him, and she, by the use of

He many

on him to himself declare war on Rome, he same time sending a bill of divorce to Octavia, and ordering her to vacate his house at Rome. Again he lost a year of valuable time, making his court at Samos, and finally at Athens, enthroned in the forum with Cleopatra arts, prevailed

at the

beside him, or sometimes giving her triumphal entries,

and himself walking among her slaves. It was the opinion of the world that Cleopatra had administered to Antony some Egyptian philtre, and Octavius, in his decree declaring war, in response to Antony,

made war on 5—5

stated that he Voi,.

Cleopatra, and

now

deprived

66

FAMOUS WOMEN let a woman exer whom Rome would have

Antony of the authority which he had cise in his place.

The

generals

would be Mardion, the eunuch; Iras, Cleopatra's hairdressing girl, and Charmion, her waiting woman, who were Antony's chief state-counto fight, said Octavius,

cillors.

Antony had a vast power behind him, and Octavius was taxing a people who bore their burdens impatiently. The eastern world was habituated to the caprices of tyrants, and obeyed without murmuring. Thus the forces of the east, as well as the stage-players and musicians, were nearly all in Greece. Antony had an army of 112,000 soldiers, and 500 ships of war; some of his galleys had ten banks of oars. At that age, navigation was in the nature of a sea caravan

—

that

of elephants and camels; the

near to the squadron.

is,

the boats took the places

army on land was always

Six tributary Kings and Cleopatra

were with Antony in person, and six other Kings had sent auxiliaries. Antony’s empire, east and west, extended (on the modern map) from Zante Island to Bagdad. Actium, where the battle was shortly to ensue, was in Octavius had 250 galleys and about the Ionian region. 100,000 soldiers. His galleys, however, were well manned, while the boats of Antony had been manned with assdrivers, harvest-laborers and boys. It would have been far better for Antony to have fought on land* but the pride of Cleopatra stood in the way, and she persuaded

him to invite a sea encounter. Meantime Octavius crossed from Italy to the Ionian coast north of Actium, and at last was prepared for battle before Antony could get his army and his sea-caravan together. The generals in Antony's councils began to feel that Antony should retreat inland, where, with

added troops that awaited him,

he,

being the most experienced land captain then on earth,

CLEOPATRA must surely win, while

it

67

would be no

lasting disgrace to

But Cleopatra, She believed it was to her interest to hazard the battle in ships. She had already conceived the project of deserting Antony and surrender the seas for a time to Caesar.

evidently,

had not so much

trust in

Antony.

ensnaring Octavius, for the adopted son of Julius Caesar

had been busily at work corrupting Antony's generals and Kings, and promises had been probably held out to her, also.

At

last the

armies of the two commanders confronted

straits at Actium (Nicopolis, in Western Greece), and Antony put 22,000 full-armed warriors aboard sixty of the best of Cleopatra’s ships, and

each other across the

burned

all

the rest of the

the weather day.

making

fleet.

The

sea-fight took place,

fighting impracticable until the fifth

Antony’s ships were large, and there were always

AnNothing had been decided, when Cleopatra’s sixty ships were seen hoisting sail and making away. No sooner did Antony observe this, than he proved himself to be thoroughly insane, for the brave soldier who had all day risked his life and personally urged on the battle, going from ship to ship in the midst of all danger, now, on find-

several small boats of Octavius around each one of tony’s.

flight, at once left the battle half-finished one galley after the Queen. Cleopatra took Antony on board, and he sat on the prow of her ship for three days, moody and in silence.

ing Cleopatra in

and followed

in

But Cleopatra’s women, knowing his nature, at last mollified him, and brought the Queen and her lover together again. When he landed in Laconia, Greece, he learned that Caesar had taken 300 ships and killed 5,000 men. Antony had left nineteen legions and 12,000 cavalry on shore, who waited seven days for his orders before going over to Caesar.

There

is

not in history another case of

FAMOUS WOMEN

68

desertion so astonishing as Antony’s, for

most famous

Antony was the

soldier then alive.

The remainder

Antony and Cleopatra was even more extraordinary than what has gone before. The world was now busy going over to Caesar, and Antony,

who

of the career of

considered such action the basest ingratitude,

determined to enact the part of

Timon

of Athens, which

Antony built what he called a Timoneum, near the Pharos at Alexandria, on a little mole in the sea, while Cleopatra set to work to see if she could not transport her ships overland to the Red Sea, to get out of Octavius’ way. But news of the desire of vengeance on the part of Octavius increased, for Octavius had real reason to fear Csesarion, and Antony, hearkening to the views of Cleopatra, that their end was near, deserted his Timoneum, again entered the palace that had cost him so dearly, and plunged into another orgy of drinking, feasting and present-making. Cleopatra, meanwhile, had practiced with all sorts of poisons, on prisoners that had been condemned to die. She at last adopted the asp, as conveying with its bite, a poison that brought on drowsiness without convulsions, and gave an easy death. At the same time she spared no efforts to come to an understanding with Octavius, who held out very good promises to her if she would give up Antony, and sent a personal representative, named Shakespeare has also extended into a play.

Thyrsus, to Cleopatra. free with Cleopatra that

him

seized,

This Thyrsus made himself so

Antony grew

jealous,

and had

whipped, and sent back to Octavius. Cleopatra

again mollified Antony with a great feast on her birthday.

“Many of the guests,” says Plutarch, significantly, “sat down in want, and went home wealthy men.” Octavius had been

called to

Rome, and Antony was given a whole

winter in Avhich to repair his fortunes.

Josephus says that

CLEOPATRA Herod of Judea

offered to

tony would

Cleopatra, seize Egypt, and

kill

still

69

stand by Antony,

this

offer,

An-

make such

a war as so great a general could easily organize.

Antony refused

if

When

Herod made terms with

Octavius.

The conduct

of Cleopatra, after the spring campaign

opened, and Octavius advanced on Pelusium, near Alexandria, treat

must be theorized on the

with Octavius,

if

she could.

desire of the

Though she

Queen

to

could not

deceive or ensnare Octavius, neither could he deceive her,

and she must have been an exceedingly subtle woman. She sent to Octavius all the emblems of royalty, and urgently sued for an accommodation that would leave Egypt to her children. At last she offered to surrender Antony, but steadfastly refused to kill him herself, as Octavius desired. Octavius was in dire need of money to pay his troops. Notwithstanding the prodigious waste of Cleopatra, it

was believed that the Queen possessed a treasure that was still unparalleled, and Octavius feared that, in some way, the Queen, if she should kill herself, might make it impossible for him to secure the means to pay his soldiers. For she had conveyed her treasury to a tower near the temple of

Isis,

where, with a great quantity of aromatic

wood, perfumes, and combustibles, she was prepared to funeral pyre that would leave Egypt practically

make a

Yet Cleopatra was daily betraying Egypt to Octavius. First Pelusium was surrendered; then Antony, fighting bravely before Alexandria itself, found the

poor.

’

Egyptian army, under Cleopatra’s private orders, in full retreat. At this time everybody save Antony knew that Cleopatra was false to him. When, at last, the whole

army and navy had been scandalously betrayed

to Octa-

vius, Antony, in the rage of a lover, flew to the palace to

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

70 kill

found that she had shut where she caused it to be reported

his perfidious mistress, but

herself in her tower,

that she

had

hands.

This false news carried Antony from transports

killed herself to avoid falling in the

enemy’s

of rage to agonies of despair, and he shut himself in his

room, and reminded his slave Eros that the time had now come to keep his promise to his master that he would kill

the great

dier’s affairs

Antony when the posture of the fallen solit. But the slave, overcome

should require

with sentiments of affection, stabbed himself and

fell

dead

at Antony’s feet.

Antony thereupon

fell

upon

his

own

not put an immediate end to himself, for

sword, but could

when

the officers

broke into the apartment, he begged them to aid him on

But one of them stole his sword and carried the weapon with the blood of Antony to Octavius, who thereupon retired into his tent, and caused it to be reported that he wept. But he redoubled

his journey into eternity.

his efforts to get Cleopatra alive into his power.

Meanwhile there was a noise

in the city caused

the news of Antony’s act, which could not

fail to

by

be car-

where only she and two servingand Charmion) were intrenched. From the top of the monument she ordered that Antony be brought to her, and when her secretary entered Antony’s room he thought Antony was dying. But Antony, hearing the name of her whom he had so insanely loved, and learning that she still lived, opened his dying eyes, and begged to be taken to her, which was done. But Cleopatra did not ried to Cleopatra’s tower,

women

(Iras

dare to unlock the gate of the tower.

Here we may quote

in full a passage

from Plutarch’s

“Life of Antony,” which, for dramatic interest, scarce

has

its

equal in the secular writings of antiquity

“Cleopatra, looking from a sort of window,

let

down

CLEOPATRA

71

Antony was fastened and she and her two women drew him up. Those that were present say that nothing was ever more sad than this spectacle, to see Antony, covered all over with blood and just expiring, thus drawn up, still holding up his hands to her, and lifting up his body with the little force he had left (as, indeed, it was no easy task for the women) and Cleopatra, with all her force, clinging to the rope, and straining her head to the ground, with difficulty pulled him up, while those below encouraged her with their cries, and joined in all her efforts and anxiety. “When she had got him up, she laid him on the bed, tearing all her clothes, which she spread upon him, and beating her breasts with her hands, lacerating herself and disfiguring her own face with the blood from his wounds. She called him her lord, her husband, her emperor, and seemed to have pretty nearly forgotten all her own evils, she was so intent upon his misfortunes. ropes and cords, to which

;

;

“Antony advised her this last turn of fate,

him

that she should not pity

in

but rather rejoice for him in remem-

brance of his past happiness,

who had been

of

all

men

the most illustrious and powerful, and in the end had fallen not ignobly

—a Roman by a Roman overcome.”

In this manner Antony died, happy in the arms of Cleopatra,

the

and the news went out

Romans

patra alive.

set at

to the city.

work with much

The messenger

gate, while Cleopatra,

skill

Thereupon

to capture Cleo-

of Octavius stood at the

hoping to save Egypt for her chilWhile smooth speeches were

dren, stood inside the gate.

whispered to the beleaguered

woman from

in front, other

by ladders, reached the embrasure where Antony had been taken in, and descended on Cleopatra behind, disarming her of her dagger, and taking her alive. She asked but one favor that she might bury Antony, soldiers,

—

FAMOUS WOMEN

72 for

Kings and great commanders

for the honor.

all

clamored to Octavius

Octavius granted her request, and the

embalmed body of the

was interred with magnificence in the sepulchers of the Kings of Egypt. She had inflamed and ulcerated her breasts with beating on lover

them, after the ancient manner, and, funeral of

Antony was

was glad to

increase,

over,

fell

ill

when

the splendid

of a fever, which she

hoping by that means to

die.

the physicians of Octavius frustrated her designs and tered her into the belief that the

not

fail to

become her

friend.

But flat-

young conqueror could

When

he prepared to

visit

mind to believe that sick and elderly as she was, she might still ensnare him, as she had overcome his adoptive father, the great Julius. What, then, was her chagrin, upon his entrance, and when she had thrown herself before him, to' see that he kept his eyes fixed on the ground, and at the end of all her speeches, answered only in this blunt way, “Woman, be of good cheer; no harm shall be done you!” She wisely interpreted this to mean that she would be taken captive to Rome, the crudest fate that could befall her pride. Yet she dissembled her opinion and showed him an inventory of her treasury, which in gratitude she was to give to him. But one of her own treasurers, then present, basely her she was even of a

accused her to Octavius of concealing a portion of her

On this, the enraged Cleopatra seized the officer by the hair and beat him in the face, explaining to the smiling conqueror that if she had reserved a few jewels it was not to adorn her own person, but to bestow them on This made OctaOctavia, his sister, and Livia, his wife. vius believe that Cleopatra would go to Rome, which she had not the slightest notion of doing, and had artfully managed the entire affair. Yet Octavius had her carefully wealth.

watched, so that, in her

visits to

Antony’s tomb, which

CLEOPATRA

73

were permitted, she was not able to do herself any injury. In the meantime Dolabella, an intimate friend of Octavius, being in love with Cleopatra, notified her that her

time was short, as Octavius had already given orders to put her and her children on a vessel for Rome.

She

there-

fore gave a great feast to her custodians, and, diverting their

attention,

withdrew to her chamber, where she

dressed herself in the royal robes of the Ptolemies, lay

down on the figs

her bed, and asked for a basket of

was an

her arm, or

Among

and with the asp she made a wound

asp,

made

figs.

in

a wound, and thereafter caused the asp

to strike there with

poisonous fangs.

its

lowed without pain or uneasiness.

Her

Her death

fol-

chief custodian

had meanwhile carried a letter from her to Octavius, in which she begged to be buried in the same tomb with Antony. When Octavius arrived in Cleopatra’s chamber he found her body on a golden bed in official robes, with diadem on her head. One of her women was dead and the other dying.

And

these

w ere T

the

women named

the proclamation of Octavius before Actium.

Queen

in

Efforts to

and thereupon Octavius, deprived of the chief glory of his coming triumphal entry into Rome, very magnanimously gave orders to bury her with Even all possible pomp in the same tomb with Antony. became so honor that the her women were buried with much affection and fidelity. While the statues of Antony were all thrown down, the monuments of Cleopatra were

revive the

left

failed,

standing, and one of these ancient stones

Cleopatra’s

Needle)

now adorns

the

chief

(known

as

pleasure-

ground of New York City, whither it was transported from Alexandria after an extraordinary amount of enOctavius became Augustus, gineering labor and peril. and the Augustan Age and the Actian Era arose out of the funeral pyres of Antony and Cleopatra.

AYESHA A. D. 610-677

MOTHER OF THE FAITHFUL About the year A. D. 569 the wife of the youth Abdallah gave

Mohammed

birth, at

beautiful

Mecca, to a child named

(the past participle of the verb hamad, mean-

While the child was and the child's patrimony

ing “praised,” or most “glorious”). in his cradle the father died,

was

five

camels and an Ethiopian she-slave.

tageous marriage (to his

first

early) restored the youth,

who was

An

wife, Khadijah,

who

died

of princely birth, to a

For a whole month

high social position in Mecca.

advan-

in each

year he withdrew to a cave, where, with fasting and prayer, he prepared himself for the office of a prophet,

seeking at

first

not so

much

to

found a new religion as to

purify and simplify the ancient worship of the Arabians.

In the end he founded Islamism, or Moslemism, or Mus-

sulmanism to

God.”

—

all

from the root eslam, “to be consecrated

This religion, after countless wars and con-

quests, extending as far is at

westward as the Atlantic Ocean,

present professed by about 177,000,000 people of

various

nations

in

Europe, Asia and Africa.

probably outnumbered in

its

It

once

devotees any other religion

in the world.

In his personal characteristics,

He assumed

Mohammed was

pecul-

no distinction beyond others in food or dress. Milk and honey were luxuries which he seldom allowed to himself; when he ate, he sat on the ground, and when he traveled he divided his scanty morsel with iar.

74

AYESHA

75

who rode on the same camel behind him. Sometimes months passed without a fire or cooking on his hearth. The lord of all Arabia at last mended his own shoes and woolen garments, milked the sheep, kindled the fire, and swept the floor. He impoverished himself with giving alms, and died poor. But there were two things without which he could not remain pious perfumes and women. He created an especial religious exemption for himself and took, instead of the legal number of four wives, no less than twenty-six wives, all widows save one Ayesha, who was but nine years old when he married her, and long sustained the reputation in Arabia of being the most beautiful and his valet,

—

—

accomplished

woman

Her

of her time.

father, Abdallah,

was called Abu-bekr, which means Father of the Girl. He was one of the first of Mohammed’s disciples, and was very

efficient in

spreading the

So great was the over the prophet that

new church

that

all

faith.

influence of father and daughter it

was seen by the

ought to combine to ruin Ayesha, and

the twenty-fourth chapter of the

ment of the

politicians of the

Koran stands

as a

partial success of the conspiracy

monu-

which

fol-

lowed.

In the sixth year of the Hegira,

Mohammed went on

and took Ayesha in the caravan. On their return, when they were not far from Medina, the army moving by night, Ayesha, on the road, alighted from her camel; on her return, perceiving she had dropped her necklace, which was of onyxes of Dhafar, she went back to look for it, and, in the an expedition against the

tribe of Mostalek,

it

for granted that she

little

tent surrounded with

meantime, her attendants, taking

had re-entered her pavilion (or curtains wherein

women

are carried in the east), set

again on the camel, and led the animal onward.

it

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

76

When Ayesha came camel was gone, she sat

back to the road, and saw her

down

there, expecting that

when

she was missed, people would be sent back to fetch her;

and

in a little time, being

camel, she al

Moattel,

fell asleep.

who

weary with hard

travel

on the

Early in the morning, Safwan

Ebn

stayed behind to rest himself, coming by,

and perceiving somebody asleep, went to see whom it might be, and recognized Ayesha, the favorite wife of the Prophet, upon which he reverently waked her, by twice pronouncing, with a low voice, the words, “We are God’s, and unto him must we return.” Then Ayesha immediately covered herself with her veil, and Safwan set her on his own camel, and led her after the army, which they overtook by noon, as it rested. Ayesha’s reputation was instantly assailed by five of

Mohammed’s

enemies,

and,

notwithstanding Ayesha’s

protestations of innocence, the case

dubious. all

A

month

later the

was made

to look very

Prophet was able to silence

scandal by the revelation of the twenty-fourth chapter

of the Koran, entitled “Light.”

“As

to the party

among you who have

published the

falsehood concerning Ayesha,” says the Koran, “think

not to be an evil unto you; on the contrary,

it is

it

better

for you [that is, for the Prophet, for Abu-bekr, and for Ayesha and Safwan, for God would make them amends in the next world, since he now was revealing himself to clear their good name]. Every man of them shall be punished according to the injustice of which he hath been guilty, and he among them who hath undertaken to aggraDid vate the same shall suffer a grievous punishment. not the faithful men and the faithful women, when ye heard this, judge in their own minds for the best, and say

'This

is

a manifest falsehood?’

four witnesses thereof ?

Have they produced

Wherefore, since they have not

AYESHA

77

produced the witnesses, they are surely of God.

Had

it

toward you, and

liars in the sight

not been for the indulgence of

mercy

God

and in that which is to come, verily a grievous punishment had been inflicted on you for the calumny which ye have spread, when ye published that with your tongues, and spoke that with your mouths of which ye had no knowledge, and esteemed it to be light, whereas it was a matter of importance in the

is

in this world,

When ye heard it,

sight of God.

not unto us that

This

his

we

did ye say,

should talk of this matter;

a grievous calumny

return not to the like crime forever,

Verily they

regarding those

who

who

belongeth

God

God warneth you

!’

And God declareth unto you his and wise.

‘It

if

forbid

that

!

you

ye be true believers.

signs, for

God

is

knowing

love to see scandal published

believe, shall receive a severe punish-

ment both in this world and the next.” Four of the five persons concerned in spreading the scandal concerning Ayesha accordingly each received eighty stripes, pursuant to the law ordained in this chapter. It is said in the

Moslem world

Hassan and Mestah, became lost the use of

that

blind,

two of the offenders, and that Hassan also

both of his hands.

A1 Beidawi, commentator on the Koran, observes concerning this chapter, that God cleared four persons by four extraordinary testimonies; for he exculpated Joseph by the testimony of a child in his mistress’ family; Moses, by means of the stone that fled away from his garments; Mary, by the testimony of her infant, and Ayesha by these verses of the Koran. It

was a saying of Ebn Abbas that if the threats conKoran be examined, there are none so

tained in the whole

severe as those occasioned by the false accusation of Ayesha; wherefore he thought even reprentance would

stand her slanderers in no stead.

FAMOUS WOMEN

78 It

had been Abu-bekr, the

whom Mohammed, coming

first

man

of influence, to

with Khadijah, his

out of the cave, imparted the

secret

of

first

wife,

prophetic

his

man named Ali was really the and therefore styled himself “first of the and set up claim to the successorship. When

powers, although a young first to

hear

believers/’

it,

in the sixth year of his mission,

Mohammed

boldly pro-

made a night-journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence upward through seven heavens, several of his staunchest followers left him. At this crisis claimed that he had

Abu-bekr declared

that, if

Mohammed

affirmed the story

to be true, he, Abu-bekr, thoroughly believed

known

it.

The

probity of Abu-bekr retrieved the waning fortunes

of the Prophet, and, indeed, completed his success, for after that the

Thus

Arabian world rapidly made way before him. plain to be seen that the daughter of Abu-

it is

and comely, stood

bekr, herself accomplished

in a highly

advantageous position in the councils of the new

religion.

Khadijah had been the rich and elderly widow of a merchant, and all the other wives of the Prophet were also widows, while Ayesha was so much the junior of Mohammed that she was to outlive him by nearly half a century, and was only 18 years old when he died. When Mohammed was about 60 years old a Jewess poisoned him with a roasted joint of mutton.

When

she

was accused, she answered “I thought, if you had been really a prophet, you would easily have discovered the poison; and if not, that it would have delivered us from your tyranny.” The sickness following this crime was eventually the cause of Mohammed’s death, and two of his wives, Hapsah and Ayesha, appear to have been especially faithful and affectionate in their service on the fail:

ing old man.

When

the Prophet

was

finally attacked

with the pois-

AYESHA

79

he was in the apartment of Zeinab, one of his many wives. As soon as he despaired of his life, he sent for all his other wives and desired that they would

oning

illness,

allow Ayesha to take care of him in his sickness.

To

this

they agreed, and he was at once carried to her apartment.

Here he

Ayesha that the poison was again at work, Ayesha spoke together in a pleasant manner, which greatly alleviated his pain. Soon after he was in such pain that cold water was poured upon him in great volume. He was able, however, on the next day, to preach a sort of discourse from a pulpit in the mosque, in which he made his peace with the world and declared his accustomed humility, putting Abu-bekr and other high Moslems in tears and raising them to great heights of told

yet he and

fanaticism.

Mohammed was now

confined to Ayesha’s apartment,

while Abu-bekr was authorized to prayers in the mosque.

it

the

public

This led the people to expect that

Mohammed would name Ayesha’s but

repeat

father as the successor,

it, and it was the opinAyesha did not wish that her father

seems he did not expressly do

ion of

many

that

should be so advanced.

The Prophet

died with his head

in her lap, without a successor.

two candidates, Omar and Abu Obeid, the assembly could agree on neither, and finally Omar took Abu-bekr by the hand and swore fealty

When

Abu-bekr came

to offer

on seeing which all the rest did likewise. This election then and there caused a schism

to him,

church, which lasts to this day. cession

was legitimate

in

Some

in the

hold that the suc-

Abu-bekr, and

Omar who

fol-

lowed him, while others thought that Ali, who had been the first believer, and had married the daughter of Mo-

hammed, should have been the first Caliph, or successor. “Of the former opinion,” says Ockley, “are the Turks at

FAMOUS WOMEN

8o

which two nations that,

this day; of the latter, the Persians (the Shi-ites),

makes such a

difference between these

notwithstanding their agreement in other points of their superstition, they

do upon

one another

this account, treat

as most damnable heretics.”

Ayesha left a not come in until

tradition that she six

months

had said that Ali did

after the death of

med, when the death of his wife, the daughter of med, had sensibly diminished the

MohamMoham-

political value of his

claims on the Caliphate.

Mohammed was

buried in the apartment of Ayesha,

Medina, under her bed, and as the Prophet had himself decorated her with the title of "Mother of the Faithful,”

at

her position henceforth was one of unassailable religious

power.

She now entered on a long career of influence and

authority which even defeat in battle could not utterly destroy.

When Omar was dissatisfied with the appointment of Saed as a general, Abu-bekr, the Caliph, was forced to seek Ayesha for advice, as he had done on many other great occasions. It was supposed that she, having been the best-beloved of the Prophet, could tell what he would have done had he been alive. In this case, Abu-bekr must either break with Omar or take back the commission of Saed a great humiliation. Ayesha decided for Omar, and Saed patiently abided by the decision, declaring that he would fight under any orders for the propagation of

—

Mohammed’s faith. As Ayesha charged on rarily at least) is

Ali the circulation of the scan-

was always believed that she (tempoShe excluded him from the succession.

dal concerning her,

it

represented as exceedingly well versed in the Arabic

literature

and the

antiquities of her country,

and her subAbu-bekr

sequent operations tend to support this claim.

AYESHA

81

lived to enjoy the Caliphate but

two years and four

months, and Ayesha was authority for the statement that he died at 63 of a cold, though it was thought by some that he, too, was poisoned by a Jew. He held money in such contempt that he left little, and authorized Ayesha to bestow that on the Moslems. He was buried under her

bed, along with

Omar was

Mohammed.

the second Caliph, and began his career as

one of the great conquerors.

He

took Jerusalem, Tyre,

Cairo, Alexandria, and burned the great library that had

He overran Persia. He was assassinated in the mosque at Medina after he had

been accumulating for 700 years. reigned nearly eleven years.

He,

too,

was buried with

Mohammed and Abu-bekr beneath the bed of Ayesha, on which the Prophet had died. With him, too, Ayesha must have had great influence, for he could not be induced to nominate Ali for his successor, alleging that he was not serious enough for a position that had now become the Omar, therefore, leading one in the world as it existed. named the five Companions of Mohammed to agree on one of their number, and Othman was chosen, Ali still feeling disappointed.

Othman

followed the career of

although he was a very old

med) and

man

Omar

as a conqueror,

(a companion of

finally (after ten years’ reign)

Moham-

was assassinated

by rebels at Medina, it being alleged on one side that Ali had winked at the deed, and on the other that Ayesha had intrigued to bring it about. The rebels now compelled Ali to become Caliph, and that ambitious and designing person, at last, found himself unwilling to take the great office over which he had so long been unhappy. Ayesha, though detesting Ali no less,

was

from fear of massacre by the outsiders, But no sooner favor the exaltation of Ali.

also,

compelled to

— FAMOUS WOMEN

82

was he placed

power than she aggravated the already distracted state of affairs by declaring that the assassins of Othman ought to be brought to judgment, which was Ali had had two rivals just then politically impossible. Telha and Zobeir. These were the leaders on whom Ayesha now wrought, hoping to secure the ruin of Ali. She started on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and Telha and Zobeir followed her. No sooner had they arrived in Mecca than they recruited an army, while their partisans in

raised another in Syria.

In changing governors of prov-

inces at this critical time, Ali

also

lost

other

regions.

Ayesha now boldly charged Ali with murdering Othman, and the bloody shirt of the slain Caliph was adopted as the standard of the Syrians and others who burned for vengeance on the murderers. A messenger reached Ali. “What news is stiring in Syria?” asked the Caliph. “There are no less than sixty thousand men in arms under Othman’s shirt,” answered the messenger, “which is erected as a standard under the pulpit at Damascus.” Ayesha now believed that it was best to march with the small army at Mecca directly on Medina, but other counsel finally prevailed, and Basra was chosen as a stronghold. Proclamation was made that the Mother of the Faithful, with Telha and Zobeir, was about departing for Basra, and therefore all who were desirous of supporting the true religion and avenging the death of Othman ought to join her expedition.

When Ayesha departed from Mecca she was at the head of a thousand camels with a thousand warriors, all fanatically determined to depose Ali from the Caliphate. The camel on which Ayesha rode was called “The Army,” and was of great value. Mounted on this camel, in a litter, she led her forces out of

Mecca, and, by the time

she had arrived at Basra, had three thousand soldiers.

AYESHA

83

But a peculiar incident marked her passage through Jowab, a village. On Ayesha’ s approach

the dogs of

all

Jowab met her in This Ayesha

a body, and barked at her with great fury.

took as a notification to make camp, for she declared that

Mohammed, once on specifically that it

a journey with her, had remarked

was good

to lodge within the noise of

the barking of the dogs of Jowab, and therefore had predicted the present

uncommon

She

event.

at once recited

a passage of the Koran, and struck her camel on the knee,

preparing to dismount.

But Telha and Zobeir, desiring

a forced march, in order to reach Basra before Ali, got fifty

persons to swear to Ayesha that this village went by

another

name than Jowab.

encamp.

Thereupon the

Ayesha still determined to was raised: “Make haste, make haste, Ali appears behind us !” Whereupon all, Ayesha included, marched on with speed. false cry

This the Moslem writers

own

to

have been a public

lie,

had been allowed to go unpunished between the revelation to Mohammed and the defection of Ayesha. the

first

And

it

that

should also be noted that

all

the Caliphs before Ali

had been men who did not seek the their sons,

office

nor leave

it

to

being inspired with a high order of devotion to

new faith, which Mohammed had revealed. At Basra the Syrians so greatly reinforced Ayesha that The Govher army amounted to thirty thousand men. ernor of Basra, summoned to surrenderbythevery Mother of the Faith herself, did not know what to do, and asked instructions from Ali, who returned word that, inasmuch as Ayesha, Telha and Zobeir had sworn fealty to him as Caliph, it was the Governor's duty to oppose them if they demanded a new Caliph. The Governor (named Othman) therefore resisted, was taken, insulted, shaven, confined and finally dismissed, beardless, to Ali, who received

the

FAMOUS WOMEN

84

him with great honor, and promised him adequate heavenly rewards for the afflictions that had befallen him. At Medina, all was not well with Ali, and it was only after some time that two doctors of the law stood up and “The Imam Othman, pronounced the following decision :

Master of the of the

Two

Two Testimonies,

Testimonies”

Othman.” —namely, (i) “There the death of

is

—that

did not die by the Master is,

“Ali

is

not guilty of

These are the “two testimonies” is but one God; (2) Mohammed

the apostle of God.” Ali,

army

now having Medina

with him, set out with a small

His son Hassan made bold to censure him for not making peace with. Ayesha, but Ali silenced the young man, declaring that the ambition of Ayesha was insatiable, and that the course he had pursued through all the troubles was the best. to besiege Ayesha.

such was the power of the name of Ayesha in Moslem world and over Ali himself, who had spent his life near her, that there was much parleying between the two armies, when they were drawn up together, and it is possible that, if the Mother of the Faithful had not been implacable, some kind of peace would have been made without battle. When Ali, therefore, saw that the thing was inevitable, he called down the vengeance of heaven on Still,

the

Telha and Zobeir, and

hostilities

began.

Ayesha was mounted on her great camel, in a welldefended pavilion, and moved with great resolution, from one part of her army to another in the heat of the action. Hence this battle of Khoraiba (near Basra) came to be called the Day of the Camel. Ali had twenty thousand veterans;

Ayesha

thirty thousand volunteers.

The

result

could not remain doubtful, for Ali had long been a good general.

Telha was

killed

by an arow, and Ali soon had the

:

AYESHA

85

Zobeir retreated to a rivulet, where he

victoi / assured.

A

kneeled to pray.

soldier

named Amru

But Ali revolted

at the sight, saying

:

Ebn Safia, in hell !” Then answered the “Thou art the evil genius of the Moslems. deliver thee

off

to Ali.

it

“Go carry the news

to

doomed

struck

and carried

Zobeir’ s head while Zobeir prayed,

irate soldier

from any of thine enemies, he

to hell for such deliverance; but if

person

If a is

he

presently

kill

one of

thy men, thou instantly pronouncest him one of the devil’s

companions

!”

Then

the soldier

drew

his

own sword and

slew himself in the presence of Ali.

So long

as the great camel of

Ayesha stood on

its feet,

her troops fought about her standard with valor, and

Seventy holders of one bridle had and the pavilion in which she sat had its sides stuck so full of arrows and javelins that it looked At last the camel was wounded and like a porcupine. forced to fall, and Ayesha lay there until the engagement was over. Ali sent the son of Abu-bekr to see if Ayesha remained

could not be dispersed. their

hands cut

off,

alive,

but she dismissed him with scornful language.

When

the defeated

woman was

brought before

Ali, the

triumphant Caliph received her with reverence, dismissed her courteously, and ordered his sons Hassan and Hosein to attend her a day’s journey, with a splendid equipage,

on her way home to Medina. Afterward the Caliph confined her commanded her from henceforth never with state

affairs,

to her house,

and

to concern herself

although he permitted her to make the

pilgrimage to Mecca, because she was held in high venera-

by all the Arabs. She henceforth, for many years, and until her death, was engaged in construing the Koran, on which she was held to be the greatest earthly authority, and her sayings

tion

FAMOUS WOMEN

86

are compiled in the book called the Sunna, which gives a

name

to the Sunnites as against the Shi-ites, or sects that

reject the Sunna.

In the reign of

Moawiyah

I,

a following Caliph,

Ayesha unsuccessfully interceded to save the life of Hedjer, a man of piety and austerity of life, whom the Caliph suspected of fidelity to the house of Ali. Hedjer had been insubordinate to a governor, and the Caliph put the disaffected subject to death.

In the last public act of Ayesha that is recorded by the Arabian historians, the aged Mother of the Faithful cursed the Caliph for his cruelty in Hedjer’s case, the

next time she saw her sovereign at Medina. It is

written that this ruler

made

a present to Ayesha

of a bracelet that cost 100,000 dinars, so that between the early

and the

late

days of Ayesha there was an extraordi-

nary growth of luxury. In the year 677 A. D. Ayesha died at Medina, being

The Companions had lived to see then 67 years old. others on the throne, but the old women of their circle exercised a dreadful tongue with a long

we may judge by some

memory behind

But the Caliph had only begun to adopt aristocratic manners and assume especial privileges, and Ayesha’s moral empire, although disturbed by the part she had played in the Battie of the Camel, still remained till her death the most it,

if

of the recitals.

impressive phenomenon attending the progress of Islam

She was given the most sacred of first two Caliphs. and Abu-bekr, Omar, and of Mohammed The bodies Ayesha, three of the Companions, lie interred in Medina in a magnificent building, covered with a cupola, on the east and adjoining the great temple which stands in the in

Asia and Africa.

burials, beside the

midst of the

city.

Prophet and

AYESHA It is quite

no other

87

within the bounds of reason to believe that

priestess of a religion has so long lived to receive

the reverent attention of so

many

implicit believers in the

especial sanctity of her sacerdotal acts, for, at the time

she died, the to the

Mohammed Caliphate,

Damascan

general,

was

although

still

it

had passed

the greatest throne

and the organization and ecclesiastical polity of the empire were more thoroughly established than any other similar structures then on earth.

east of China,

JOAN OF ARC A. D. 1412-1431

THE MAID OF ORLEANS The

tragic chapter

reflects eternal

glory on

on which we enter is one that womanhood and casts a profound

shadow of disgrace on the age of chivalry. The drama that was played in history, now to be again recorded in these pages, was only possible in an era of dense superstition, remorseless warfare, and rigid ecclesi-

Inasmuch as knights and nobles spent their deeds of slaughter, pillage, and devastation, it is not impossible that they looked upon it as a necessity, that, in return to the peaceable husbandmen who supported them, they should strive hard to kill each other and thus decrease the number of such enemies of mankind. The literature contemporary with the exploits of Joan is meager, and, outside of the records of an ecclesiastical trial for witchcraft which closed the scene, is largely contained in nine very short chronicles of Monstrelet, whose annals begin where those of Froissart cease. But the literature of the period of her justification and national apotheosis is immense, and lovers of the good, the noble, and the heroic have labored with the enthusiasm of genius to supply a pompous appanage of detail concerning the early life and military achievements of the

astical rule.

whole

Maid

lives in

of Orleans.

She should have been or the Maid of Rouen.

called the

To

Maid

of

Domremy,

understand her history, note

as

JOAN OF ARC that she

was born

at

89

Domremy, reached

Charles VII at

Chinon, went to Orleans, pursued his enemies to Gergau and the battle of Patay, went to Rheims, went outside

went to Lagny-on-the-Marne, was captured at Compi£gne, and was burned at Rouen. She could not read or write. She never looked inside of Paris. Paris,

Now, Domremy is a hamlet on

the upper

Meuse River

and the Meuse Sedan, where Na-

at the northeastern borders of France,

runs out of France into Belgium at poleon III surrendered to Bismarck.

Joan’s first journey to Chinon was her longest, as Chinon is on the lower Loire River, not much over 150 miles from the Atlantic Ocean (southwest of Paris). Orleans, whither she next went, is up the River Loire 100

Her

miles.

operations thereafter are

all in

the northeast

Rheims and Compiegne are on or near streams which flow westward to the suburbs of Paris, and Rouen is on the Seine River, nearly at its mouth in the English Channel, a few miles upstream from Havre. These geographical statements of France again,

will,

we

far nearer her

think, tend to

make

home.

clearer the story of her short,

sad and astonishing career.

Human

existence, in every age,

is

made much more

dramatic and interesting by the appearance of persons

who, through rare or previously unheard-of faculties, arouse the wonder and admiration of lows.

Joan was one of

these.

gifts

or

their fel-

She saw apparitions and

heard them speak, showing a double disturbance of her senses; for

owner,

it is

when

the nerves of the eye thus betray their

not often that the brain

in a like state of interior excitement.

cells

of the ear are

She was young and

as ignorant of the causes of her subjective sight-seeing

as

we remain to-day.

She would not have acted

logically,

or even sanely, had she not believed that spirits had com-

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

9°

manded her

There was an honest man in the world, who, had he possessed the inborn courage of Joan, would not have proceeded on the lines that she followed, though it is doubtful if many would have displayed so much good sense and singleness of purpose as she evinced. Joan of Arc is, arguing from these premises, one of or heroes the world has prothe greatest heroines to hasten to the aid of her King.

not, at that time,

—

—

duced, just as the succeeding century of almost equal barbarity of

manners put

est poetic genius to

Now

ters.

forth, in Shakespeare, the strong-

be found in the whole universe of

let-

to the details of her career

Charles VI, an insane or incapable monarch of France,

make a treaty with Henry V of England uniting Henry as Regent during the incapacity of Charles Henry to marry the daughter of Charles. The dispossessed Dauphin, or Crown Prince of France, Charles (afterwards the Seventh), declared war on the parties to this treaty, and Scotland sent him 7,000 men. Castile sent more men, and Charles at last could reckon

was

led to

the kingdoms, with

—

and held the banks of the lower Loire to the sea. The Duke of Burgundy was then a reigning The Duke of Bedprince, and he joined with England.

20,000

soldiers,

commanded the English in France. Then both the King of England and Charles VI

ford

of

France died suddenly.

The chief places of northern France were all held by the English, who had strengthened their party by keeping the French prelates in office and power, and these unhappy ecclesiastics, as we shall see, labored incessantly in the interest of their

new

patrons, the invaders.

The

Dauphin, Charles VII, could not be crowned at Rheims,

which was held to be necessary by tradition. Such coronation as could be had took place at Poitiers, south of

— JOAN OF ARC the Loire, and to nullify

had the young, or infant,

92

Duke of Bedford Henry VI, King of England,

its

force the

crowned King of England and France, at Paris, which, considering the treaty and the attitude of the most of the French church, gave to the English claims a strong appearance of validity. For four years the tide went

He

gradually against Charles VII all

did not even control

the provinces south of the Loire.

As

for those to

the north, the French common people had nearly abandoned hope of ever seeing another French King. Yet the English felt the necessity of taking the great town of Orleans. If they could get that, Southern France would surrender. Therefore, in the autumn of 1428 Lord Salisbury, with 10,000 men, sat down to the siege of Orleans, building towers and works in due form, and

making

it

appear that the capture of the city was only a

matter of time.

It

may

be imagined that the news of

this,

spread by the English in northwestern France, car-

ried

gloom

into every village

weight of the foreign yoke.

whose people had

felt

the

We may easily, in our minds,

behold the peasant mother, with her child at her knee, in nearly every cottage, praying devoutly to the Saints and

Mary for her own King. At Domremy (now

called

Domremy-la-Pucelle

fucelle being the French word for maid) was Joan, 16 years old. Her hamlet lay in the parish of Creux, diocese

of Toul, not far from Vaucouleurs, the nearest large

She had been taught, by the priest, a few things deemed necessary to her very low station the angelic salutation, the symbol of the apostles, and the Lord’s prayer. She was of middle size, strong and well made, town.

with open countenance,

—

fine features, rather majestic

than

delicate, and black hair. When Monstrelet saw her, some time later, he thought her 20 years old. “She had

— FAMOUS WOMEN

92

some time hostler and chambermaid to an inn, and had shown much courage in riding horses to water, and in other feats unusual for young girls to In fact, it is fairly certain that she had become an do.” expert rider, and had fought with false lances, imitating all the military movements, evolutions and maneuvers of She was no gentle maid, but a most that warlike day. been,” he says, “for

stout and plucky girl to start with, and the very marvel

of her case

lies in

the fact that with this hoidenish physical

nature there was united the profound meditation which usually attaches to a

life

without hard physical exercise.

She heard of the constant defeat of French arms with little resignation, and her recourse to religion was for the purpose of finding some means to aid her King. At last St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine appeared to her, in vision, and commanded her to go the succor of her King, to' raise the siege of Orleans, and to drive the oppressors from France. St. Catherine of Alexandria was a young woman who had confronted fifty pagan philosophers and suffered martydom. Her mystic marriage with the Infant Jesus was a painting to be seen in every cathedral, and she was doubtless, at this time, the most popular of the Saints. Like Mohammed, Joan first kept secret her revelaThen she communicated the facts to her family tion. That is, she had seen for facts they undoubtedly were. The apparitions and voices, so far as she and heard. knew, were in the objective, were outside of her. She also knew they were not human, for in these phenomena of a disordered brain there spectral

and

a distinct difference between

real things, easily to

—for seeing of

intellect

is

visions

is

patients of these days can testify.

be noted by the same not insanity, as fever

She had a

basis of

JOAN OF ARC go upon.

so far as she knew, to

fact,

93

teachings tended to support her

But her parents doubted her

own

All her religious

views.

sanity.

When they heard

her plans, they took her to Neuchatel, in what manner

is

not known.

The journey only

increased her distress.

She con-

tinued to see the Saints and to hear their voices, imploring

her to

At

act.

Lappart,

last, in

her uncle,

May, 1429, she persuaded Durant to accompany her to Governor

Baudricourt, a knight, at Vaucouleurs. she communicated her designs, and

To

the governor

commanded him

that

he should forewarn Charles VII not to attack his enemies

toward mid-Lent, God would send

at Orleans, because,

him

succor.

Baudricourt received her coldly.

He

rebuked her

him with a maniac, and ordered

uncle for disturbing

that

Yet the Domremy, and a

the girl should be taken at once to her parents.

journey gave her some importance at little

circle

members thought BaudriShe now assumed male attire, and

increased whose

court had erred.

preached her mission as boldly as

Mohammed. Her uncle who was still obdu-

again went with her to the governor, rate.

But the new

cult spread, and,

on her third mission,

Baudricourt kept her for three weeks in Vaucouleurs and

what manShe duly confessed, and showed

set the priest to the business of discovering

ner of

woman

she was.

herself in all things

an implicit

believer,

according to

accepted standards.

One day

the priest, in

all

the garments of his sacred

entered her apartment with the governor, the two magnates making a most solemn and impressive appear-

office,

ance.

The priest, proceeding to the business

tvil spirits, cried

out

:

of exorcising

“If thou hast any concern with the

FAMOUS WOMEN

94

Arch-enemy of Mankind, depart thou, instantly; but thou comest on the part of God, thou shalt remain.”

To

this

solemn admonition the

if

girl spiritedly replied,

She now told the governor of a defeat the French had sustained on Saturday, the 12th of February, under the walls of Orleans. This was the Battle of the Herrings, because it was in Lent, and the provender was largely of herrings. The English would spread the news of the victory. Joan might have told the news to the governor without alleging any divine attribute, and he might have believed she had it from heaven. It is not likely that Joan lied during her maintaining that her mission was from God.

entire career.

Whether human beings give out X rays, or have other means of conveying or inferring thought, it is certain that there is no force more convincing than a pure belief, and the governor seems soon to have come to the opinion that, either as witch or prophetess, Joan could aid the King. She was no idle or passive character, but was every day preaching her mission, until the patriotic people of Vaucouleurs contributed suit of

male

attire

money and fitted her with a The governor gave her

and a horse.

a sword, sanctioned the journey which the people were

now

willing she should make, and, so far as the only

really responsible person could do, lent his aid to the un-

heard-of enterprise.

He

learned that Joan was of un-

and then appointed two honorable guides to attend her on her highly daring adventure across France. These were gentlemen of Champagne— BerFour trand de Polengi and John de Novellempont. servants went along, and Bertrand paid all the expenses of travel, which, of course, were not inconsiderable. She took no leave of her parents, but set off with The dates are inextricthe good will of all Vaucouleurs. spotted

character,

JOAN OF ARC ably confused by the historians and romancers, but said the journey

was made

95 it

an unseasonable time in the early part of the year. The band traversed the provinces of Champagne, Burgundy, the Nivernois, Berri and Touraine, making great circuits to shun stations that were held by English troops. “Fear nothing!” she ever is

“we

at

Chinon, and the Dauphin Novellempont was impressed with the exhibitions of her piety and charity. Neither haste, dangers, nor difficulties caused her to neglect her devotions, and a share of her meal was ever offered to the poor. It is likely that she was with two knights, and readily joined their regular proceedings. She always proffered her personal aid to the distressed, and this, too, along with the knights, as they lived under a strict code, and had acknowledged her holy mission. said

;

shall arrive safely at

will receive us joyfully.”

She now enters the chronicles of Monstrelet at the and becomes Monstrelet remembers it as happening clearly historical. fifty-eighth chapter of his sixth volume,

“in the course of this year (1428).”

“She was dressed like a man,” says he, “and called maiden inspired by the Divine Grace/ and said she was sent to restore King Charles to his kingdom, whence he had been so unjustly driven, and was now

herself ‘a

reduced to so deplorable a

state.

“She remained about two months in the King’s household, frequently admonishing him to give her men and support, and that she would repulse his enemies, and exalt The King and the Council, in the meantime, his name. knew not how to act, for they put no great faith in what she said, considering her as one out of her senses. To such noble persons the expressions she used are dangerous to be believed, as well for fear of the anger of the Lord,

FAMOUS WOMEN

96

as for the blasphemous discourses they

may

occasion in

the world.

“After some time, however, she was promised menat-arms and support

A

standard was also given to her,

on which she caused to be painted a representation of our Creator. All her conversation was of God, on which account great numbers of those who heard her had faith in what she said, and believed her inspired, as she declared herself to be.

“She was many times examined by learned clerks (clergy) and other prudent persons of rank, to find out her real intentions. But she kept to her purpose, and always replied that, if the King would believe her, she would restore to him his kingdom. In the meantime she did several acts, which shall be hereafter related, that gained her great renown.

“When Duke

the

tains,

she alone sought out the person of the King,

of Alenjon, the King’s marshal, and other cap-

were with him, for he had held a great council

rela-

tive to the siege of Orleans.

“From Chinon the King went to Poitiers, accompanied by the Maid.” The Parliamentary University had been driven together by the fortunes of war, and it is possible the Council desired to deliberate further upon raising the fanatical standard they had made. Monstrelet,

was

whom we are citing in the quoted passages,

governor of Cambray, near the region of Joan’s What he relates he heard through the enemy’s

finally

birth. lines,

as he

was on the

against Charles.

He

side of the

Duke

never saw Joan

till

of Burgundy, after she

captured, and then did not pay sufficient attention to

was what

she said to remember her words.

Thus Joan

is

like

Hannibal.

The only trustworthy

portion of her history comes to posterity from the pen of

ROUEN

AT

COUNCIL

ECCLESIASTICAL

Roe

Fred

by THE

Painting

BEFORE

ARC

OF

JOAN

OF

TRIAL

JOAN OF ARC The flattering little work of devout and patriotic but

97

her enemies.

details are doubtless

the

later hands,

The

romancers of France, in

fact,

gathered

and have created a Joan of Arc

out of the confused mists of tradition.

without reference to the known

facts,

painters

mock

consulting the

humanities and the conventionalities of their time rather

than truth and

common

Ingres, have depicted the

sense.

Maid

Great painters,

like

in complete steel, yet at the

in feminine apparel. Such a picture now hangs in the Louvre, in one of the upper galleries and Nor yet Ingres was one of the best painters of his day. is this the only example of the kind in the Louvre. “Shortly after,” continues Monstrelet, “the marshal was ordered to convey provisions and stores, under a

same time

—

strong escort, to the

army within

Joan

Orleans.

re-

quested to accompany him, and that armor should be

given to her, which was done.

She then displayed her

standard [probably a technical phrase, implying knightly ceremonials] and went to Blois, where the escort was to assemble, and thence to Orleans, always dressed in complete armor. On this expedition many warriors served under her; and when she arrived at Orleans great feasts were made for her, and the garrison and townsmen were

delighted at her coming

Thus

among them.”

seems that Orleans was not completely invested, but rather that Salisbury had made a camp on the

Roman

it

pattern, at once threatening to Orleans

and capa-

ble of strong defense.

Tradition asserts that at Chinon the

Maid

said to the

King, taking him aside, “Does your Majesty that on All Saints' Day,

when you were about

recollect,

to receive

you deprive you

the communion, you asked of Jesus Christ, that

were not the legitimate heir to the throne, to

of the power, or the will, to defend yourself, and, Voi* 5

—7

if

if

He

FAMOUS WOMEN

9s

were still irritated against France, to let the chastisements which He reserved for your people, fall upon you alone ?” This, it was said, persuaded the King. Another tra-

when Joan was asked why she always King the Dauphin (Crown Prince), she replied that he would only be really King when he was crowned at Rheims, and after that his affairs would prosper. Also, he must act soon, as her mission would expire in a year. dition states that styled the

Furthermore, writers of uncertain authority state that at Poitiers she resided in the house of the attorney-general,

whose family became converts; that the Parliament all thought she was a mere visionary at first, but came away from the hearings all of a mind that she should be sent to war as she demanded, to see if God willed it as she said; that they asked for a miracle from her, but she answered “1 was not sent to give signs at Poitiers, but at them the siege of Orleans and at Rheims, where I will show all the world more signs of my mission.” The same line of authorities relate that at Blois, on the way to Orleans, she formed the clergy into a sacred battalion, and made them march at the head of the army under a banner, which was borne by her chaplain, and :

represented a crucifix.

hymns, and the in the song.

The

air

soldiers, filled

responded with their

with enthusiasm, joined

All her soldiers had confessed.

It is pos-

Joan had heard of the methods of Mohammed, and, imitating him, had raised the standard of a holy war. The people of America and England, between 1870 and 1880, all saw the power over the multitude of the Evangelist Moody, whose operations were carried on in sible that

a time of profound peace.

be believed

human nature an immense store of which may, particularly in time of pubdanger, be released through the inspiration of persons

that there resides in religious fervor, lic

It is therefore to

JOAN OF ARC of extraordinary faith.

99

Doubtless the holy war of Joan and indorsed by thousands or mil-

was now known to all, lions, for Moody, at Edinburgh, in one night, converted more unbelievers than could enter the largest public hall of the city.

regarding her life have been by the apocryphal writers as that, on hearing an English soldier apply an opprobrious epithet to her, she burst into tears. This story is improbable for Beautiful

incidents

—

plentifully recorded

several reasons.

The Bastard

who was

of Orleans, then twenty-five years old,

near her,

testified,

when he was

55, that all she

did bore a supernatural character, in his opinion. It is stated, also, that

she sent to the church at

St.

Catherine of Fier Bois, for a sword that would be found

behind the

altar,

but

it is

also stated that she bore a

sword

from Vaucouleurs.

The arrival of so great a religious character as Joan had already become, was, of course, an event of vast import in Orleans.

And

opine, too, that need

in the lines of the

was

felt

enemy we may war with

of answering holy

Joan had unwittingly invaded the pale of the she had arrogated to herself all of its sanctity. that part of the church which had seen fit to teach

holy war.

priesthood

In

all

that

;

God favored

servant, Joan

the cause of

must

Henry VI

as his anointed

figure as a very pestilent heretic.

This

was, in fact, the challenge which the logic of her position

This challenge cost her her

created.

into their hands;

argued

if

God had

and

may

life

overthrown

when

she

fell

very logically, for they

directed her course, he

tected rather than It is

this, too,

would have pro-

her.

further said, on no very good authority, and

still

be true, that Joan dispatched by herald a letter to the King of England, the Duke of Bedford, and Lord

it

FAMOUS WOMEN

IOO

commanding the

Salisbury,

Orleans and

latter to leave

the former to restore France to her sovereign.

The

was thrown into prison by manded his release, threatening

Joan de-

ald

released

and sent to her with a

Then she

the enemy. reprisal,

when he was

letter full of reproaches.

fastened another letter to an arrow.

men,” she

said,

“you have no right

this

to'

God commands you by me,

France.

her-

“English-

Kingdom

of

Joan, the Maid, to

and retire. I would send you my more way, did you not stop my heralds.” We may now again take up the actual historical account, remembering that it is written with a pen that was abandon your letter in a

forts

civil

hostile.

The

had lasted seven months; the English had sixty towers. The convoy came up the River Loire with 7,000 men, Joan evidently in command. “The English attempted to cut off this convoy but it was well defended by the Maid and those who were with her, and brought with safety to Orleans, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who made good cheer, and were rejoiced at its safe arrival and the coming of the Maid. “On the morrow, which was a Thursday, Joan rose early, and, addressing herself to some of the principal captains, prevailed on them to arm and follow her for she wished, as she said, to attack the enemy, being fully assured they would be vanquished. These captains and other warriors, surprised at her words, were induced to arm and make an assault on the tower of St. Loup, which was very strong, and garrisoned with three to four hunsiege of Orleans

;

—

dred

Englishmen.

They were, notwithstanding

strength of the blockhouse, soon defeated, and

or

made prisoners, and

the fortification

was

the

all killed

fire

and

purpose,

re-

set

on

demolished.

“The Maid, having accomplished her

JOAN OF ARC

ioi

who had followed her town of Orleans, where she was greatly feasted and

turned with the nobles and knights to the

honored by all ranks. “The ensuing day she again made a

sally,

with a cer-

number of combatants, to attack another of the English forts, which was as well garrisoned as the former one, but which was in like manner destroyed by fire, and those within put to the sword. On her return to the town after this second exploit she was more honored and respected tain

than ever.

“On

the next day, Saturday, she ordered the tower at

the head of the bridge to be attacked. fortified,

and had within

it

This was strongly

the flower of the English chiv-

and men-at-arms, who defended themselves for a it availed them nothing, for by dint of prowess they were overcome, and On this occasion were the greater part put to the sword. alry

long time with the utmost courage; but

slain a valiant

English captain named Classendach, the

Bailiff of Evreux, and many more warand noble estate. “The Maid, after this victory, returned to Orleans with the nobles who had accompanied her, and with but Notwithstanding that at these attacks, little loss of men. Joan was, according to common fame, supposed to have been the leader, she had with her all the most expert and gallant captains, who for the most part had daily served Each of these captains exerted at this siege of Orleans. himself manfully at these attacks, so that from six to eight

Lord Molins, the riors of great

thousand combatants were killed or taken, while the French did not lose more than a hundred menVf all ranks.” On this, Monstrelet continues .that the English

marched out into open

field

an by an able divine. Having been plainly warned of the doctrines of our holy religion, and the consequences of heresies and erroneous opinions concerning it to- the welfare of mankind, she was charitably admonished to make her peace with the Church, and renounce her errors, but she remained as obstinate as before. “ ‘The judges, having considered her conduct, proceeded to pronounce sentence upon her. according to the heinousness of her crimes; but before it was read, her courage seemed to fail her, and she said she was willing This was learned with pleasure to return to the Church. by the judges, clergy, and spectators, who received her kindly, hoping by this means to preserve her soul from perdition.

“

‘She now submitted herself to the ordinances of the Church, and publicly renounced and abjured her detestable crimes, signing with her

recantation

own hand

and abjuration.

the schedule of her

Thus was our merciful

Mother, the Church, rejoiced at the sinner doing penance, anxious to recover the lost sheep that had wandered in

FAMOUS WOMEN

IIS

Joan was ordered

the desert.

to

perform her penance in

close confinement.

“

‘But these good dispositions did not last long, for

her presumptuous pride seemed to have acquired greater force than before, and she relapsed with the utmost oball those errors which she had publicly reFor this cause, and that she might not contamthe sound members of our holy communion, she was

stinacy into

nounced. inate

again publicly preached to; and, proving obstinate, she

was delivered over to the demned her to be burnt.

secular arm,

who

instantly con-

“

‘Seeing her end approach, she fully acknowledged and confessed that the spirits which had appeared to her were often lying and wicked ones, that the promises they had made to set her at liberty were false, and that she had been deceived and mocked by them. “ ‘She was publicly led to' the Old Market-place in ” Rouen, and there burnt in the presence of the people/ “This notice of her sentence and execution,” says Monstrelet and it is all he ever says afterward “was sent by the King of England to the Duke of Burgundy, that it might be published by him for the information o£ his subjects, that all may henceforward be advised not to put faith in such or similar errors as had governed the heart of the Maid.” This is the brief of the case made against Joan by a political (not a spiritual) branch of the French Church. It is probable that Charles, having carried on a holy war, did not dare to intervene when the Church offered this To have defied the Rouen tribunal scapegoat to him. would have been a religious step of the direst danger to

—

—

his throne.

Let us

now

return to the Latin minutes of the

fragments of which have come

down

to us.

trial,

These are

JOAN OF ARC

119

probably sufficiently true to be worthy of perusal. is

now

Joan

before her accusers and judges.

This numerous body of men, in a warlike age, was too ignorant to be aware even of its essential cowardice. Before the judges, in iron chains, manacles, gyves, and bands, was a all

girl,

a knight, who, but unloose her and arm

alike with swords, could slay this

roomful as a butcher

might slaughter his sheep. In her turn, this girl, holding within her heavy irons so much potential courage and heroism, was so devout that she believed (contrary to the statements of the English letter) that these fathers before

her held not only some authority over her soul after death,

but that she owed them duty and reverence in believed

life. She had taught her her mental expeculiar and astonishing as they had been, were

what

periences,

their priests

;

developed out of the ministrations of the Church.

Cauchon, the ousted Bishop of Beauvais, charged her to repeat the Lord’s prayer.

Answer

I will

:

do so

if

you

will hear

it

in confession.

(This would exclude him as a judge.)

She was charged not to escape. A.—-Were I to escape, you could not accuse me of breaking

my

word, since

I

—Do you swear to

Q.-

never pledged tell

it

to you.

the truth about everything

—

have not heard You might ask me to tell something I the questions. have sworn not to tell, thus I should be perjured, which

on which you

shall

A.

be questioned ?

I

you ought not to desire. Q. Do you swear?

A. —You are too hard on me. — of the things imputed. Q. — Swear, or be held come on God’s something A. — Go on guilty

to

—

then.

I have naught to

and God, from whom I came. Q. Are you sure you are

business, to

else,

in

do

I

here.

Send me back

God’s grace?

A.

—

If I

FAMOUS WOMEN

i2o

be not, please to keep

God

to bring

me

to

it; if I be,

please

God

me in it.

—Has Charles had yours? A. — Send have attacked Paris on a Q. — Ought you day? A. — Certainly such solemn days should be Q.

visions like

to ask him.

to

festival

re-

spected, but for that error

for

it is

my

confessor to give

absolution.

—

To Cauchon You call yourself my judge, but beware how you discharge the heavy task you have imposed on yourself (sought so freely).

—

Q. Did the saints, in their conversations with you, announce the descent of the English ? A. The English had come before I had any revelations. Have you desired to fight the Burgundians ? A. Q. I was always anxious to see my King recover his dom-

—

—

—

inions.

Q.

—Have these

celestial spirits

you seem to have of with

escape.

my trial.

Q. child,

where Q.

—Did you

raise a child

given you the hopes

—That has no concern from the dead? A. — The A.

being thought to be dead, was carried to church, it

was found

to be

still alive,

and was baptized.

—Did you change your banner often

?

Had

Why

it

been

were the names Jesus and Mary embroidered upon it? Did you ascribe any good fortune Did you so teach your soldiers? A. I only to it? changed my standard when it was torn. I never caused it to be consecrated with any particular ceremonies. It was by the priests that I was taught to place, not only on my standard., but on the letters that I sent, the names I called to my troops to of our Savior and His Mother. rush boldly into the midst of the English, and set them consecrated?

—

JOAN OF ARC the example myself

—

if

1

was good fortune

that

in

2i

the

banner.

Q.

—Why did you have the standard

in

the coronation of Charles, at Rheims? just that, having

gone with me

A.

your hand at

—

into dangers,

was but should go

It

it

also into a glorious place.

Q.— What tant and the

is

the difference between the Church Mili-

A.—-I

Church Triumphant?

shall be

ready

to submit to the church.

Friar Isambard (a judge).

A.— I

Pope ? Cauchon:

to the

secretary)

Joan.

:

—Why do you not appeal

do.

In the devil’s name, be

Erase

silent.

(To

the

all that.

—Ah, you write down

all

but you will suffer nothing that

that tells against is

in

my

me;

favor to be

written.

(Many fathers asking questions at once.) To them, One at a time, good fathers, if you please. Joan. Q.-— Did the saints who appeared to you wear earrings or rings? A. You took one ring from me.

—

—

Pray return Q.

it.

—Were

these saints naked or dressed?

A.

—Do

you suppose God has not wherewithal to clothe them? Q. ‘Did you see any fairies ? A. I never saw any. Q.— What do you think of them ? A. I have heard there are fairies, but I do not believe they exist. William Marchon, one of the secretaries, made oath that he was deposed by Cauchon because he had refused

—

—

—

to falsify the answers of the Maid.

A

juror withdrew, declaring that the

oner was being

made

to depend

life

of the pris-

on a grammatical

distinc-

tion, since if the Maid, instead of affirming that she had believed the apparitions she had seen to be real, had

FAMOUS WOMEN

i22

said that they appeared to be real, she never could have

been condemned.

Luxemburg, the lord of Beaurevoir, who had sold her, came to see her trial. He told her he had come to treat for her ransom.

—You

have neither the ability nor the inclination. These Englishmen will kill me, hoping to conquer France. But 100,000 more than are here now could not Joan.

succeed.

The

trial,

discussions,

and appeals to Paris dragged

May 30, 1431. May Joan was carried

from February 21 to

On

the 9th of

to the torture-

chamber of Rouen castle. Cauchon The executioners are now prepared to fulfill their office, in order to bring you back into the ways of truth, in order to insure the salvation of your soul and body, so gravely endangered by inventions. Joan Verily, if you should tear me limb from limb, soul from body, I should tell you nothing more. If I should tell more, I would afterward still tell you that you had made me tell it by force. She was not tortured, for fear of killing her before she

—

—

could be publicly burned.

The jury found

seventy charges true.

These were

reduced to twelve, which are named in the King’s

The

pointed out secretaries.

The

May

letter.

who many absolute falsehoods in the work of the None of these falsifications were corrected.

record of the

trial

was read

to the prisoner,

university sustained the jury, and

on the 24th of

she was taken to a churchyard, and a defamatory

sermon was preached against her. She was counseled to abjure, and, on the advice of her friends, put her mark to a Latin paper, which she supposed had regard wholly to her dress, and she willingly removed her male attire.

JOAN OF ARC

23

But even then she publicly rebuked a

slight put

on her

King by the preacher, and thus angered the mob. She was thereupon condemned “to perpetual imprisonment, with the bread of fliction, in

affliction

and the water of

had committed, and relapse

rors she

af-

order that she might deplore the faults and erinto

them no more

henceforth.”

Stones were thrown at the judges, so eager was the

mob

have Joan’s life. Joan Come now, you churchmen amongst you, lead to your own prisons, so I may escape the English. to

—

me

Cauchon—Lead

her to where you got her. taken back to the English prison and told was Joan The to dress as a woman, which she was glad to do. soldiers, by patient persecution, compelled her to put on her man’s dress again, which was considered a relapse. Forty judges met again on the 29th. She was cited for the 30th on a charge of relapse, and to hear sentence of death at the stake.

Seeing that the soldiers had betrayed her, she gave

way to grief and terror, and charged Cauchon that in a Him she humane prison it could not have happened. blamed alone. “Ah,” she cried, “I would seven times rather be be“By the grace headed than burned.” Then later she said :

of

God I At 9

on a

shall

be in Paradise to-night.”

car,

o’clock

a.

m.,

May

with soldiers

all

30, 1431, in

woman’s

dress,

about, Joan rode to the

Old

A

spy of Cauchon threw himself on the soldiers, hoping to reach her and obtain pardon for swearMarket-place.

ing away her

life.

Joan wept on the

At

car.

the funeral pyre,

which was

built high, a

long de-

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

124

famatory sermon was again preached.

The

soldiers cried

you going to make us dine here?” knelt stake and begged for a cross. An at the Joan attendant improvised one. She kissed it, and laid it on her breast. She begged her friend Isambard to fetch the crucifix from the church opposite, and hold it up, “in order that the cross whereon God hung might be continually in her sight, till the coming of death.” As the flames rose, she begged her confessor to go down off the scaffold, fearing he would be burned. As he went down he heard her affirm that the voices she heard were heavenly, and she believed they had come from God. Her final demeanor dispirited the mob, and many went away fearing they had burned a saint. Her ashes were thrown into the Seine. The monstrous moral wrong done to a French woman by ignoble Frenchmen at the command of foreigners, rested on France for twenty-four years. France was free, as she had foretold. Pope Calixtus III, in the name of Isabel Romee, Joan’s mother, and her family, and with consent of the King, or-

“How, now,

dered a

new

priest, are

court at Rouen, to review the cause.

At

this

court the testimonies of 112 witnesses favorable to the

heroine were received.

The

sentence of 1431

was

publicly

burned and revoked.

A

general procession and solemn sermons at the

first sentence was passed, and at Old Market-place, were ordered, “where the said Maid had been cruelly and horridly burned.” On the Old Market-place a cross of honor was planted, and official notice of the re-establishment of her memory was posted at all

churchyard, where the the

notable places in the realm.

The

city of Orleans erected a

monument, which has

JOAN OF ARC had many

125

vicissitudes (all patriotic), but stands at last

higher and finer than ever.

The people believed that an early and unhappy death came upon all the judges who had declared against Joan of Arc. When the court of review was held at Rouen, the perfidious Cauchon had been dead for twelve years. Those few judges who survived were shunned as men who had slain a saint as men over whom was suspended the most awful judgment of heaven. On the ruins of the chapel where Joan heard the voices, Claude de Lys and others, nephews of Joan, were

—

said to have built a chapel that bore her name.

In the

was destroyed. In 1880 the Bishop of Saint-Die began the erection of a considerable stone church on the site of the ruins of the chapel, which is some distance out of Domremy. As the church rose, its plans were enlarged and a steeple 185 feet high was built. In the meantime, Pope Leo XIII beatified Joan of Arc, and she formally became an ecclesiastical saint, as she had long been a real saint in the hearts of the people.

invasion of Gustavus Adolphus

On

it

the calendar of her church she

now

with Saints Margaret and Catherine,

appears along

whom

she once

trustingly adored.

The

famous group, showing Joan in marble, surrounded and overtopped by the three figures in bronze of St. Michael and Saints MarThis group was dedicated on the guerite and Catherine. sculptor Allar executed a

porch of the church in 1894, and 30,000 pilgrims attended. Upon this the Pope raised the church to the rank of basilica.

a summary narration of matters pertaining In ages of faith her name authentically to Joan of Arc.

This

is

must be written foremost

in all earth’s records.

Through

126

FAMOUS WOMEN

ages of patriotism, her example has stirred nations to throes and agonies that brought liberty to slaves and death to tyrants.

In ages of science, she will doubtless be

miration, as

medium of an intelligent adan honest human being whose lion-heart

though held

in the tender leashes of her gentle sex,

viewed, through the clear

yet as strong as Richard’s.

was

ISABELLA A. D. 1451-1504

"the MOTHER OF SPAIN ” The

great

iived but a

woman upon whose

little

later in

history

an age of rigid

we now

enter

ecclesiastical rule

While Joan was upon the extreme Church Militant, where the flames of rebellion were soonest to burst forth, Isabella was at that center, was in that citadel, of Roman faith, which stands firm today. There the deep and gloomy resentments of fanaticism had been wrought out of the hand-to-hand conflict with Mohammedanism. The general air of cant and hypocrisy which overshadowed and ended the career of Joan of Arc that air, intensified in Spain, in the inner Cathay of Catholicism, surrounded, gave comfort, and offered powerful support to the supremely devout and to the devoutly intolerant. Thus lived and died Isabella; Torquemada, the Robespierre of the Church, was her early confessor. In her life and administration, therefore, many things will be found from which the encomiast must turn away, but these things should not be omitted by the historian. We shall, however, in the end, after considering her age and environment, contemplate the career of a very admirable and high-minded woman, who than Joan of Arc.

confines of the

—

and perhaps successfully sought the welfare of for she was a real sovthe people whom she governed

logically

—

ereign, like Elizabeth of England, not merely a consort

Marie Antoinette of France. moment as to the geography of this subject:

Queen,

A

like

127

On

128

FAMOUS WOMEN

maps of the sixth century, the whole Spanish peninsula is marked '‘Kingdom of the Visigoths”; the Van-

the

dals hold Africa, south of Spain.

In the tenth century,

marked “Caliphate Cordova,” with the “Kingdom of Leon” (Christian), north of the Douro River, in the northwest corner. The map of the triumphant Isabella, upon which we are now to look, finds Portugal, as at present, on the west, Leon spreading through to the Mediterranean Sea, and even to Sicily and Naples, and called “Leon and Castile,” covering much the most of the peninsula

is

greater part of the peninsula; and having Catalonia at the northeast, small but ow;ning the great city of Barcelona,

which was to succeed Genoa, as Genoa had supplanted Venice, in the commercial primacy of the world. The whole peninsula, Moslem and Christian, had been called Spain from time immemorial, the Romans getting their

word “Hispania” from the Phoenicians. Because Leon and Castile and Aragon covered nearly all the country, that consolidated monarchy became Spain, as the United States, to many foreigners, have become “America.” The Spanish way of spelling the name is Espana (pronounced Espahnyah, with accent on the second syllable). In 1450, over the mountains to the south of

Castile,

and narrow but fertile Mohammedan land named Granada, under rival Caliphs. The poets have

lay a long

vied with each other to exalt

its

beauties.

Its principal

Granada could alone furnish 20,000 fighting men. The other parts of Spain were Christian, but feudal and turbulent, unitedly looking on the Moors of Granada with steadfast hatred, yet expending their forces and shedding their blood in ceaseless attacks one on another. As if called to forever change these conditions, Isabella the Catholic was born at Madrigal, in Burgos (north city of

of Madrid, half

way to

the sea), April 22, 1451.

Her

his-

ISABELLA

129

tory has been placed within the reach of English readers

through the noble labors of William H. Prescott, a blind historian,

Spanish

who

collated the unprinted manuscripts of the

and gathered together the important and Enriquez, Llorente, Peter Martyr, the Academicians, and other less conspicuous scribes and actors in the scenes. A strain of mental disorder ran through the stock out of which Isabella sprang. Her mother, her brother Henry, herself, her daughter Joan, her grandson Charles V, and the dark and gloomy Philip II, her great-grandson, all gave traces of this disorder. In Isabella its only manifestation was the melancholia in which she ended her libraries,

parts of the recitals of Oviedo, Palencia

days.

Four years after her birth, her father, John II, died, kingdom to his son by his first wife, and consigning Isabella, his daughter by a second wife, to the guardianship of the new King, who was styled Henry IV of Castile. When she was sixteen, her brother the King affianced her to old Don Pedro Giron, Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava, an infamous man, who had grossly wronged Isabella’s own mother. The young woman had previously shown a great deal of spirit, and now it was concluded to use force. The King needed the aid of the powerful faction which Giron could control. Isabella, on learning that she was to be sacrificed to

leaving his

a notorious wretch of inferior station, shut herself in her

apartment and denied herself sleep and food for a day

and night, praying to Heaven

to spare her.

As

she

was

bewailing her fate to her life-long friend, Beatriz of Bobadilla, that valiant lady, says Palencia,

and declared that

it

drew a dagger

should go to the heart of Giron as

soon as he appeared.

On

his

Voi,.

way

5—9

to the

wedding he

fell ill

and

died,

“with

;

FAMOUS WOMEN

ISO

imprecations on his lips,” says Palencia, “because his

had not been spared some few weeks longer.”

life

Isabella

considered the event an interposition of Providence.

This marriage having

Henry joined to Isabella

failed, the

went with him.

malcontents against

own brother,

exalt Isabella’s

Alfonso, and

He was clearly a usurper. He died

shortly after, and the seditious nobles then, in a large

body, with the Archbishop of Toledo, primate of the Spanish Church, at their head, formally offered her the crown. Isabella replied, to their astonishment, that while her

Henry lived, none other had a right to

the crown; had been divided long enough under the rule of two contending monarchs; and that the death of Alfonso might perhaps be interpreted into an indication from Heaven of its disapprobation of their cause.” She advised reconciliation, and could not be moved from her

“brother

that the country

purpose.

The King deemed himself unable to cope with his seThey returned to him and exacted from

ditious subjects.

the feeble-minded

Queen and

monarch a

treaty

which divorced

sent her back to her father,

that disinherited his

own

King

his

of Portugal

daughter, Joan; that declared

and heir-apparent to the crowns of Leon and Castile; that the Cortes or Parliament should be convoked to sanction her title, and that she should not be compelled to marry against her consent; nor should she marry without Henry’s consent. Upon this, brother and sister met publicly, and the treaty was Isabella

Princess

of

Asturias

ratified.

Isabella

sonage, and

now appeared before the world as a great perit may interest the reader to know that Pres-

cott surmises that Richard III, the

hunchback of England,

sued unsuccessfully for her hand.

The young man whom

she had long favored

was

W

ISABELLA

Prince Ferdinand of Aragon, a knight, a fine military cap-

forehanded and thoughtful far past his years, a

tain,

fel-

—

low-countryman and zealot in fact, a companion and friend. When it became publicly known that Isabella and Ferdinand were lovers, and that the King of Castile had again attempted to provide his young sister with an aged husband-

—

time the King of Portugal, father-in-law

this

of the Castilian great

cities,

—boys

King

riage for Isabella, and to insult the felt

paraded the streets of the

singing verses prophetic of a happy mar-

mobs gathered

prime minister of Henry.

that Isabella

Aragon was a

was

at the royal palace

The people

to be their ruler,

already

and union with

pleasing prospect.

In the meantime, the old King of Aragon, Ferdinand’s

was busy advancing the interest of his son, whom he entitled King of Sicily and associated with himself on the little throne of Aragon. A commissioner was sent to operate on the mind of Isabella, and this commissioner carried cartes blanches signed by both Ferdinand and his father,

father, to offer

any Jerms whatever.

lieved that a Spanish

husband

woman

in after years

It

was not then

could stand out against her

and protect her own

Accordingly, on January

be-

rights.

7, 1474, Isabella, at Cervera,

signed articles of marriage with Ferdinand, in which he promised faithfully to respect the laws and usages of Castile; to fix his residence in Castile, and not to quit it with-

out the consent of Isabella; to alienate no property belonging to the crown; to prefer no foreigners to municipal offices; indeed, to

make no appointments

of a

civil

or mil-

itary nature without her consent; and to resign to her ex-

clusively the right of nomination to ecclesiastical benefices.

All ordinances of a public nature were to be subscribed by both.

Ferdinand engaged to prosecute the war against

FAMOUS WOMEN

132

Moors

the

Granada, and a large dowry was settled on

in

Isabella.

Why

did Ferdinand’s people sign a document which

gave so much and took so little? Because Louis XI of France was likely, otherwise, to seize Aragon; because Ferdinand would be commander of the Spanish armies against the Moors, and thus a European knight of the first order because the Aragonese statesmen did not hesitate to believe that the lover could get more after he was married than before. In this the sordid young man was ;

deceived.

King Henry had now gone

His

into Andalusia.

statesmen, hearing of the forthcoming marriage, sent a force to Madrigal to capture Isabella; her partisans sent

a swifter force and rescued her, taking her to friends in Valladolid.

Meanwhile

King of Aragon

to the affairs

among

Isabella dispatched a deputation

(Palencia, the chronicler of these

the number), to beg for succor.

The em-

bassy found the King of Aragon in deep troubles, with less

than 300 enriques (gold coins) dn his treasury.

men nor money. The distracted

could spare neither

was determined Ferdinand and a dozen attendants should go dis-

appealed to his son and the council. that

He

father

It

guised as merchants to Isabella, while an embassy, as a diversion, should travel in state

IV.

The

from Aragon

to

Henry

family of Mendoza, strongly opposed to Ara-

gon, occupied a line of castles which Ferdinand must pass.

He went disguised as an attendant, and served

took care of the mules,

Reaching a friendly castle at last, an apprehensive sentinel on the battlements let fly a huge stone, which glanced so near the lover’s head that his romantic adventure had nearly ended there. At last he reached Leon, where the lovers met as royal equals, someat table.

ISABELLA what

to the chagrin of the Castilians, for they thought

Isabella

On

ought to exact homage.

the 15th of October, 1474, Ferdinand met Isabella

again at Valladolid. to

!33

The

couple borrowed enough

pay the expenses of a public marriage.

money

The Archbishop

of Toledo produced a fictitious bull of the Pope,

empower-

ing the cousins to marry, and Isabella, devoutly considering this last barrier removed,

which took place 19th.

A

made ready

on the

genuine bull was secured when Isabella was a

powerful sovereign, some years

How

for the wedding,

in the presence of 2,000 people

did Isabella look?

later.

Her

dress betrays the

Mos-

lem influence, making her figure to appear like one of the heroines of the Bible. She was a year older than her In stature she was somewhat above the middle

lover. size.

Her complexion was fair, and her hair strongly inHer mild blue eye beamed with intelligence

clined to red.

“She was the handsomest lady whom I ever beheld/’ says Oviedo, “and the most gracious in her manners.” “The portrait still existing of her in the royal palace,” says Prescott, “is conspicuous for an open symmetry of features, indicative of a natural serenity of temper, and that beautiful harmony of intellectual and moral She was digniqualities which most distinguished her.” fied in her demeanor, and modest, even to a degree of reserve. She spoke the Castilian language with more than usual elegance; and early imbibed a relish for letters, in which the chroniclers all say she was superior to Ferdinand, who was a true knight in his contempt of learning. and

sensibility.

woman;

on her graces and accomplishments, the Spanish historians, with one accord, pass at once into the realm of romance. She was always a commanding woman. Determining to Isabella

is

the ideal Spanish

love and honor her husband,

when

in dwelling

she should get one, she

FAMOUS WOMEN

*34

had sent emissaries to every court, and early reports on Ferdinand had pleased her best of all. She loved no other

man

all

her

life.

She was cold and religion.

calculating, except

when stirred by was capable

All the enthusiasm of which she

then burst forth.

Under the reign of these princely persons, who borrowed money to get married with, the Spanish monarchy was to rise to almost the summit of its grandeur, and was in fact to accomplish all the results which have redounded to

its

lasting credit.

The inner state of Spain could not well be worse, and the Moors threatened it on the south. Some of the feudal had 20,000 soldiers, and hatreds of an intense Caskind seemed too numerous for anyone to attempt to remove or placate them. King Henry repudiated the Valladolid marriage, and civil war broke forth with inFifteen hundred houses of the Ponce creased horrors. faction were burned at Seville. The harvests failed or could not be gathered, and the people began to see in comets, earthquakes, and unusual storms, the coming of the end of the world. While things were at their worst, Henry and Isabella met at Segovia and made an ineffectual peace; the factions still fought, but Isabella gained a great noble, the husband of Beatriz of Bobadilla, and he was Governor of Segovia, and custodian of the royal treasury. Henry, later on, repudiated this latter agreement because he thought he had lords

tilian

been poisoned at Segovia.

Meanwhile Ferdinand was is

in

Aragon.

His character

well brought forth in the following episode

:

A

noble

named Gordo had become the chief man of Saragossa. He was popular, powerful, and had committed crimes without number, declaring that he was the law. He was,

ISABELLA

*35

however, very obsequious to Ferdinand, and visited the where he was received with every outward mark of

palace,

One day

favor.

the Prince honored

him with an

tion to an interview in a private apartment.

the authority of Palencia,

invita-

It is said,

on

Ferreras and Zurita, chron-

when Gordo

entered the chamber, he was apby the sight of the public hangman, a gibbet, and a confessor. He was seized and bound, lamenting his trust in Ferdinand. He appealed to Ferdinand, on the ground of brave deeds done for Ferdinand’s father. These, Ferdinand assured him, should be gratefully reiclers.

that

palled

membered

He was

in the protection of his children.

His body was exposed in the market-place, and those of his adherents who were found guilty of crime were punished in the regular tribunals without seditious hanged.

outbreaks.

The

civil

war was greatly narrowed by the death of King Henry IV, December 12, 1474,

'Isabella’s brother,

which

left

only the King’s daughter Joan to oppose the

Cortes, the greater nobles,

Ferdinand,

it is

to be seen,

On December

and

Isabella

and Ferdinand.

was no mere carpet

knight.

13, at Segovia, the nobles, clergy

magistrates, in their robes of

office,

and

waited on Isabella at

the castle, and, receiving her under a canopy of rich brocade, escorted her in solemn procession to the principal

square of the

city.

Spanish jennet,

Isabella, royally attired,

rode on a

was held by two

civic func-

whose

bridle

an officer on horseback bore before her a naked sword, the symbol of sovereignty. At the square Isabella ascended a throne on a high platform. A herald tionaries, while

proclaimed:

King Don FerdiQueen Proprietor of

“Castile, Castile for the

nand and his consort Doha Isabella, these Kingdoms!” The royal standards were then unfurled, the bells of the city pealed, and the cannons of the

FAMOUS WOMEN

136

announced that

castle

ceived the

homage

Isabella

was Queen.

Isabella re-

of her subjects, and swore to maintain

She then where a Te Deum was

the liberties of the realm without encroachment.

moved toward

the cathedral,

She prostrated

chanted.

herself before the great altar

and returned thanks to the Almighty, dedicating herself to His service and to Castile. This vow she kept. When Ferdinand arrived, he found that Isabella had preserved the ante-nuptial contract, and meant to defend it. On his side, he felt he had a clearer title as a male descendant of Isabella’s house than she had, because,

if

a

woman were eligible, Joan was the daughter of the King. The man who had hanged Gordo was, however, compelled to leave the disputed matter to the “arbitration” of the

Archbishop of Toledo and the Cardinal of Spain, and these Castilians stood by the marriage contract. They decided that commanders of fortified places must render

homage

to Isabella alone; the

money was

all

under

to be

her care. Justice was to be administered by both, sitting together,

when they were

in a city

in the

by either when Both were to sign bear their images to-

same

city;

with the other person absent.

proclamations; the coinage was to gether.

Ferdinand agreed because he could do no

The

better.

pair had an infant daughter (Joan, afterward mother of

Charles

debar

V)

her.

army. beaten.

;

to declare against female succession

Acquiescence would give him

Besides, Joan, the King’s daughter,

In

fact, the

—the Archbishop of

would

command

of an

was not yet

man who had exalted Isabella Toledo now joined with Portugal

very

—

Joan on the throne of Castile. “I have raised Isabella from the distaff,” said the prelate; “I will soon send her back to it again.”* to seat

* All the Chroniclers report this speech.

ISABELLA

J

37

James in Spanish is Iago. The name that has been made by Shakespeare the synonym of all that is artfully treacherous, is in Spain the cognomen It is

well to state that

of the patron saint.

In the beginning of the ninth century a peasant of Ga-

saw preternatural lights in a forest. Following them he found a marble sepulchre, containing the ashes of St. licia

James (Santiago) the

disciple of Jesus.

once established the advent of historical fact.

The

St.

James

The

fathers at

into Spain as a

Jesuit father Marina, a chronicler,

doubts the genuineness of the body, and the advent of St.

James, but concludes

:

“It

is

not expedient to disturb

with such disputes the devotion of the people, so firmly it is.” Caro de Torres, a chronicler, states that James was incarnated in battle against the infidels down to a late period. Also in America, “he cheered on the squadrons of Cortes and Pizarro, with his sword flash-

settled as St.

ing lightning in the eyes of the Indians.”

This

is

to ac-

quaint the reader with the religious atmosphere of the time.

With on

!”

James and St. Lazarus Ferdinand now went forth against Joan and

the battle-cry of “St.

his lips,

her uncle, the King of Portugal.

In a word, the armies

met near Toro, on the Douro River, at the boundand Zamora. The battle lasted three hours. The standard of Portugal was borne by Edward of Almeyda. He lost his right arm, his left arm, and held the flagstaff in his teeth till he was cut down. Mariana, a chronicler, saw the armor of this knight at the cathedral of Toledo, where it was prefinally

aries of the provinces of Valadolid

served as a trophy. Isabella

was

at Tordesillas, a

few miles behind.

On

hearing the news, she walked in procession barefoot to the church of St. Paul, and offered

up thanksgiving

to the

FAMOUS WOMEN

138

The nobles now all came over to Isabella; the crafty Louis XI of France found religious difficulties in the way of aiding Portugal any further, and only the problem of composing the kingdoms was left to Isabella’s

God of

Battles.

solution.

She now reorganized the Holy Brotherhood, a body of whose jurisdiction extended to robbery, burglary, theft, and resistance to the operations of justice. A junto met at Duenas and wrote a set of penalties in blood. Executions wxre conducted by shooting the culprit with arrows. The loss of a member, or several members, was denounced against ordinary crimes, while petty thefts might be punished by stripes. The nobles opposed the Holy Brotherhood, and Isabella set to work to make it respected. police,

The

inhabitants of Segovia rose against Cabrera, hus-

band of Beatriz, who was governor. The infanta or Princess Isabella in crown was Cabrera’s keeping. Cabrera, with the royal child, was driven into the citadel and rigorously blockaded. Isabella, the Queen, and Beatriz were at Tordesillas. They took horse for Segovia. The mob met Isabella and requested her to leave Beatriz behind. She replied: “I am Queen of Castile; the city is mine, moreover, by the right of legal inheritance. I am not used to the receiving of conditions from rebellious subjects.” She entered the beleaguered citadel with Beatriz at a friendly gate.

“Death

ing: castle!”

The mob

multiplied in numbers, cry-

to the Alcalde

(Cabrera)!

Isabella ordered the portals to be

Attack the opened and

found her seated as a magistrate, “Tell me,” she commanded, “what are your grievances, and I will do all in my power to redress them for I am sure that what is for your in-

the populace, pouring

in,

to hear their complaint.

;

terest city.”

must be

also for mine,

and for that of the whole

ISABELLA The complainants demanded

*39

that Cabrera should be

deposed.

“He

is

deposed already,” answered the royal judge,

“and you have

my

cers as are

in the castle,

of

still

authority to turn out such of his

my own servants, The

on

which

whom

I

“Long

people shouted,

ceeded to carry out her orders.

I shall intrust to

offi-

one

can rely.” live the

Queen !” and pro-

They then attended her

to

them to go the morrow she would hear

the royal residence, where she admonished

home and become three or four of

On

calm.

them

in full.

The Queen, hearing

the cause the next day, and trac-

ing the riot to the jealousy of the Bishop of Segovia, restored Cabrera, and no riot followed.*

her favor

till

Cabrera enjoyed

her death.

Anarchy still prevailed in Estremadura and Andawhere the factions of Guzman and Ponce de Leon were at war. The Queen resolved to go far south. It was thought her tribunal would be scorned, and she would be killed. She answered “It is true there are dangers and lusia,

:

inconveniences to be encountered; but hands.

I feel confident

my

fate is in God’s

he will guide to a prosperous issue

such designs as are righteous in themselves and resolutely conducted.”

Notwithstanding the alarms of Cardinal Mendoza, her prime minister, she was magnificently received at Seville.

She erected her tribunal

in the castle, and, after the fashion

Every Frion an elevated platform covered with cloth of gold, and surrounded by her council. The high court of criminal law sat every day. The Queen heard such suits as were brought to her,

of earlier monarchs, proceeded to do justice.

day she took her seat

Carbajal,

in her chair of state,

Zurita, Lebrija, Oviedo, Feneras.

FAMOUS WOMEN

140

For two months Plundered property was restored and four this went on. thousand guilty persons were punished. The population saving to the parties expense and delay.*

of Seville began to diminish by

flight,

the burghers sued

and Isabella, to give the region a fair start on the road to good order, after demanding a restitution of all property illegally taken, passed an act of obfor an amnesty,

livion for all crimes except heresy.

The

great Marquis of Cadiz (Ponce de Leon), head

of one of the contending factions, and the one that had

fought against her, attendants, Seville.

now

visited Isabella with only

and proffered

The

his allegiance.

two

This pacified

great contending lords were sent each to his

and were not compelled to fraternize in public. year, 1478, Ferdinand and Isabella together inspected the Moorish frontier, and carried to Cordova the administration of justice that had succeeded at Seville. Two great warring lords were sent each to his estate, and the disaffected one swore fealty to his Queen. estate,

The next

In the far northwest,

fifty

feudal fortresses, the dens

of robbers, were razed to the ground, and 1,500 perfidious

knights fled from Leon.

A wealthy knight named Alvaro

Yanez de Lugo was sentenced

to death for a hideous

His friends sought to pay to the Queen 40,000 doblas of gold for a commutation of sentence. Some of the ministers thought the money should be accepted and spent in the Moorish wars. But Isabella refused to intervene, and, furthermore, that no imputation might rest on crime.

the crown, allowed the malefactor’s his heirs.

said that

money

to descend to

Thus, to the astonishment of Castilians,

money would no longer

“The wretched

it

was

corrupt justice in Spain.

inhabitants of the mountains,

who had

* Marineo says no less than 8000 guilty fled out of the provinces of Seville and Cordova.

ISABELLA

H

long since despaired of justice,” says Pulgar, “blessed for their deliverance, as

it

1

God

were, from a deplorable cap-

tivity.”

“I well remember,” says Oviedo, “to have seen the

Queen, together with the Catholic King, her husband, ting in

judgment

in the castle of

dispensing justice to

demand

all

sit-

Madrid, every Friday,

such, great

and

small, as

came

to

This was indeed the age of justice, and, since our sacred mistress has been taken from us, it has been

more

it.

difficult,

and far more

costly, to transact business

with a stripling of a secretary, than

and

all

it

was with the Queen

her ministers.”

“The law,”

says Sempere, “acquired an authority which caused a decree signed by two or three judges, to be more respected since that time, than an army before.” “Whereas,” says Pulgar, “the kingdom was previously filled with banditti and malefactors of every description, who committed the most diabolical excesses, in open contempt of law, there was now such terror impressed on the hearts of all, that no one dared to lift his arm against

him with contumelious or disThe knight and the squire, who had

another, or even to assail

courteous language.

before oppressed the laborer, were intimidated by the fear of that justice which

The roads were swept

was sure

to be executed

of the banditti.

on them.

The strongholds

of violence were thrown open, and the whole nation, restored to tranquillity and order, sought no other redress

than that afforded by the operation of the law.”

Yet the grandees of the realm would have liked the old order better. An imposing body of these nobles waited on the royal pair, asking for the abolition of the police, and the restoration of the laws and customs of Henry IV, Isabella’s deceased brother.

The monarchs answered

:

“You may

follow the court.

FAMOUS WOMEN

142

or retire to your estates, but so long as

we have been

us to retain the rank with which

we shall in

Heaven permits intrusted,

Henry IV, our nobility.” The no-

take care not to imitate the example of

becoming a

tool in the

hands of

bles retired, abashed.

During Ferdinand’s absence

Aragon, in 1481, a two young noblemen, Ramiro Nunez, lord of Toral, and Frederick Henriquez, son of the Admiral of Castile. The Queen, on hearing of it, granted a safe-conduct to the lord of Toral as the weaker party, until the affair should be adjusted between them. Don Frederick, however, disregarding the Queen’s action, caused his enemy to be waylaid by three bullies, armed with bludgeons, and severely beatin

quarrel occurred in the palace at Valladolid between

en,

one evening Isabella,

in the streets of Valladolid.

hearing

this,

mounted her horse

in a severe

storm and rode alone to the castle of Simancas, then in

She traveled so

possession of the father of the offender.

swiftly in her anger that the officers of her guard could

not overtake her

manded

was reached.

the castle

till

“He

of the Admiral his son.

swered the Admiral.

is

She

de-

not here,” an-

“Surrender the keys of your

castle

!”

she commanded, and searched the place herself, but fruitlessly.

The young man was not

Valladolid, and

was confined

to

She returned to her bed the next day with there.

extreme fatigue.

“My to

Don

body

is

lame,” said she, “with the blows given

Frederick in contempt of

my

safe-conduct.”

counsel with his friends, who were would be the best policy to deliver up his son. The young man was accordingly conducted to the palace by the constable of Haro, who represented to the irate Queen that his nephew was a lad scarce twenty years

The Admiral took

of opinion that

it

ISABELLA

143

of age, and begged her, in her action, to remember the dis-

grace a harsh penalty would bring on a great house. Isabella ordered the young miscreant to be publicly conducted as a prisoner by one of her alcaldes through the

great square of Valladolid

to

the

fortress of Arevalo,

where he was detained in close confinement, all privilege of communication with the world being cut off. At length, considering that he was closely related to the King, she released him, but banished him for a time to Sicily.

Having proved

herself a sovereign entitled to obedi-

ence, Isabella’s next struggle

IV,

who

was with the Pope, Sixtus

not only paid no attention to her wishes, but

was the head of the Church, and, power in the distribution he was not bound to consult the in-

declared to her that “he

as such, possessed an unlimited

of benefices, and that clination of

any potentate on

earth,

subserve the interests of religion.”

any further than might

On

this all

Spaniards

were ordered out of the papal states, and the Pope, in alarm, heard that Isabella meant to summon a council of potentates. A papal legate was hurriedly sent to Spain, but he was ordered out of the realm, when the Pope made a highly conciliatory move, and Isabella was left to exalt whomsoever she willed. She thereafter advanced only persons of exemplary piety and learning, and even the interests and desires of her husband counted for nothing

when they ran opposite to this rule. The chronicler dwells on those good old times, when churchmen were to be found of such modesty as to be required to be urged to accept the dignities to which their merits entitled them.

The factions having been silenced, the thieves having been punished, and the arrogations of the Pope rebuked, the next step of Isabella

was

to restore the

Holy

Office of

the Inquisition, chiefly for the purpose of destroying the

Jews

in Spain.

x

FAMOUS WOMEN

44

A Dominican monk named Thomas of Torquemada had been the early confessor of Isabella. “He won from her a promise/' says Zurita, “that, should she ever come to the throne, she would devote herself to the extirpation of heresy, for the glory of God, and the exaltation of the Catholic faith."

Nor

who were less danSiguenza says that when Brother Fernando of

did she have later confessors

gerous.

Talavera, afterward Archbishop of Granada, attended Isabella for the first time as confessor,

he continued seated

had knelt to make her confession, which drew from her the remark that it had been usual for both par-

after she

ties to kneel.

“No," replied the priest, “this is God’s tribunal; I act here as His minister, and it is fitting that I should keep my seat while your Highness kneels before me." “This is Isabella complied, and afterward she said: the confessor that I wanted."

It will

be seen,

later, that

Ximenes followed Talavera, as Talavera followed Torquemada. In answer to the application of the potentates, Sixtus IV, November i, 1478, issued a bull for the suppression of heresy, and the Jews of Castile were exhorted publicly to

become

Christians.

The

actual Court of the Inquisition

opened at Seville on January published requiring

they

knew

all

if

1481,

when an

edict

was

persons to accuse such others as

to be heretics.

evidence of heresy

2,

good wore his best clothes he had no fire the previous

It

was

to be considered

the prisoner

on the Jewish Sabbath;

if

he ate with Jews; if he died with his face to (he the wall; if he gave Hebrew names to his children names). Christian them give law to forbidden by was evening;

if

—

To

obtain evidence, the following instructions were

given at Seville

:

“When

the Inquisitor has opportunity,

ISABELLA

H5

he shall manage to introduce to the conversation of the some one of his acquaintances, or any other con-

prisoner

verted heretic,

who

shall feign that

he

still

persists in his

heresy, telling the prisoner that he abjured for the sole

purpose of escaping punishment, thus deceiving the Inquisitors.

Having thus gained the prisoner’s confidence, cell some day after dinner, and, keepconversation till night, shall remain with him

he shall go into his ing up the

under the pretext of the lateness of the hour. He shall then urge the prisoner to tell him all the particulars of his past

and

life,

in the

having

first

meantime

told

him the whole of

his

own;

spibs shall be kept in hearing at the

door, as well as a notary, in order to certify

what may be

said within.”

—

Now began the auto

da fe at Seville the Act of Faith burning of human beings for what they had be-

—the

*

lieved.

A spacious stone scaffold was

erected in the sub-

At each corner was the statue of a prophet, and this was the stake to which the wretched victim of priestly rancor was bound. “Here,” says the Curate of Los Palen-

urbs.

cios, “heretics were burned, and ought any can be found.”

to burn, as long as

In the year 1481, in Andalusia alone, 2,000 persons

number

and 17,000 “reconciled.” Let us read the sentence by which a heretic named Roger Ponce was “reconciled.” The penitent was commanded to be stripped of his clothes and were burned

alive,

a

still

greater

in effigy,

beaten with rods by a priest/ three Sundays in succession, from the gate of the city to the door of the church; not to eat

any kind of animal food during

his

whole

life; to

keep three Lents a year without even eating fish; to abstain

from

fish, oil,

and wine three days' a week during

except in case of illness or excessive labor; to wear a religious dress, with a small cross embroidered on each life,

Voi,. 5

— 10

;

FAMOUS WOMEN

146

mass every day, if he had the means of so doing, and vespers on Sundays and festivals to recite the service for the day and the night, and to side of the breast; to attend

repeat the Lord’s Prayer seven times in the day, ten times

and twenty times in any of the above

in the evening,

Ponce failed burned as a relapsed

Nor

Roger he was to be

at midnight. requisites,

If

heretic.

did the hatred of the priests cease with the death

of a heretic.

The

sepulchres were opened, and the bodies

of the dead, in whatever state of decay, were tried and

burned.

The Pope hesitated at these enormities, but later took on new courage, extolling the sovereigns, and appointing Torquemada Inquisitor General of Castile and Aragon. Torquemada organized thirteen courts. The accused person disappeared mysteriously. He was carried to a secret dungeon. If he testified, and could be made to contradict himself, he was guilty; if, aware of his danger, he refused to testify, he was taken deep into the torture-chambers, where the cries of his anguish could

never be heard.

The

fiscation of their

rich

were

in especial danger, as con-

wealth to Torquemada followed their

conviction of heresy.

It

was

to the interests of the judges

to find their victims guilty.

On

the day appointed, the convicted heretics came amid pompous priestly ceremonials. The convicts were clad in coarse woolen garments, of yellow color, on which was a scarlet cross on the garment, also, were pictures of flames of fire, devils, and other symbols of the wearer’s future fate. The sad spectacle which followed was held to typify the terrors of the Day of Judgment. In eighteen years Torquemada thus burned 10,220 persons. The prisoners for life finally became so numerforth

;

ISABELLA ous that they were assigned to their prisonment.

H7 own

houses for im-

Torquemada died quietly in bed at a good old age. Yet he did not live without fear of poison, though he possessed the horn of a unicorn on his table that had the powof detecting and materializing poisons. had fifty horse and 200 foot when he traveled. Divine vengeance did not reach him, and human vengeance could not, so well had Isabella established her gover, in his belief,

He

also

ernment.

But not one

act of

Torquemada could have gone on

without the consent and even the order of

was

At

as

supreme above the

Truxillo, in i486, a

judge.

manded

priests as

man was

Isabella.

She

above the laymen.

put in prison by a

civil

Certain priests, relatives of the offender, dehis release

on account -of

religious profession.

his connection with the

Agitating the populace, the priests

declared an insult had been offered to the Church, and advised an attack on the prison, which, following, set free

not only the offender, but

all

others in that

jail.

Isabella

sent a force to Truxillo, captured the rioters, sentenced

the lay leaders to death, and banished the priests out of the realm.

In 1481 Isabella began war on the Moors. Previous monarchs had been on easy terms with them. However, a fanatical Caliph arose, who gave the Catholic Queen every opportunity for a holy war, and himself sounded the knell of Moorish rule in Spain. It was no gentle clash of arms, for in one of the early campaigns, Ferdinand hung no Mohammedans on the walls of a captured town

Benemaquez, sold men, women and children into slavery, and finally razed the place to the ground. When the great Moorish war was well under way,

called

Isabella hafi gathered at Cordova, her base of operations^

FAMOUS WOMEN

148

an army of 80,000 men under Ferdinand. She herself had the quartermaster and commissary departments in charge. She moved along the frontier, establishing posts and receiving hourly intelligence.

She

visited the

camps and

not only inflamed the hearts of the soldiers with fanatical rage against the Mohammedans, but distributed clothes,

She who re-established the Spanwas the first person in the world to establish camp hospitals, and at the large tents known then as “the Queen’s hospitals” sick and wounded soldiers were served and tended at the charge of the crown. She was the soul of the war. When peace was talked of, she would make such bitter objections that the knights and medicines and money. ish Inquisition also

grandees, says the learned Lebrija, “mortified, at being

surpassed in zeal for the holy

war by a woman, eagerly

collected their forces, which had been partly disbanded, and returned across the borders to renew hostilities.” Isabella was supported by a number of great Castilian nobles who were jealous to the last degree of each other, and none too respectful to Ferdinand. Isabella, herself a typical Castilian, dealt with these commanders as best she could. She reached past their pride to their self-interest by giving them the populous Moorish cities that they took,

satisfying their cupidity while she gratified her

own

fa-

naticism.

The war was

carried on with

play of the age of chivalry.

all

the extravagant dis-

Before Moclin, in i486, the

Queen was asked to come to the council of war. When she reached the army with her daughter, a courtly train of damsels followed, all on richly caparisoned mules. The Queen was seated on a saddle-chair, embossed with gold and silver. The housings were of a crimson color, and the bridle was of satin, curiously wrought with letters of gold. The King was sheathed in complete mail. The banners,

!

ISABELLA

H9

and glitter of the knightly appanage were all that the modern theaters have simulated, and were multiplied into an impressive spectacle. Isabella herself frequently wore mail. Several suits of her armor hang in the Museum of the Armory at Madrid. Isabella was larger than Ferdinand, to judge by gleaming

lances,

their suits of steel.

On August

1 8,

1487, the

King and Queen, with

all

the

panoply of Christian chivalry, entered the conquered city

The

of Malaga.

royal alferez raised the standard of the

Cross on the summit of the principal fortress, and

all

who

it prostrated themselves on their knees in silent worship of the Almighty, while the priests chanted Te

beheld

Deum.

“The ensign

then unfolded, and

all

of St. James,” says Marineo,

invoked his blessed name.

“was

Lastly

was displayed the banner of the sovereigns, at which the whole army shouted forth, as if with one voice, ‘Castile

A

Castile!’ ”

mosque, with

prelate

now

led the

way

bells, vases, missals, plate

to the principal

and other sacred

furniture, where, after the rites of purification, the edifice

was consecrated

to the true faith.

Bells

began to ring

in

the city, “the celestial music of their chimes,” says the glad

Bernaldez, “sounding at every hour of the day and night, and causing perpetual torment to the ears of the infidel.” The entire population of Malaga was now ordered to repair to the great courtyard of the castle.

The

people,

old and young, came, wringing their hands, raising their

eyes to heaven, and uttering the most piteous lamentations.

The doom for an equal

Moslems.

of slavery was proclaimed against the entire

One-third were to go to Africa, in exchange

multitude.

number of Christian

One-third were

captives held there

to be sold for a

by

war indemnity.

The remainder were to be reserved for royal present-making. One hundred warriors were sent to the Pope, “who

J

FAMOUS WOMEN

5°

converted them in a year,” says Bernaldez.

Isabella pre-

sented fifty of the most beautiful Moorish girls to the

Queen of Naples,

Queen of Portugal; others The grandees of Spain, on the

thirty to the

to the ladies of her court.

whole, were well stocked with fresh slaves.

Ferdinand was able to play upon the captives’ hopes in a manner that redounded to his commercial fame. He fixed a ransom, and told the poor people to bring on their wealth, and see

if

The sum

obeyed.

They

they could not reach the sum. could not be

made

up, so Ferdinand

got both person and property, without fear that anything

had been

secreted.

When Malaga fell,

Granada must

follow.

In the next

campaign, of 1487-89, on the other side of Granada, when Ferdinand and Ponce de Leon would have retreated from before the fortress of Baza,

from the

city of Jaen,

taken,

and the

was

Isabella’s implorations,

Let them persevere.

She would get Baza surrendered, El Zagel, the Caliph, was

inspired the army.

the supplies.

it

the base of supplies, that again

silvery standard of the Cross reached the

sea at the city of Almeria.

The

eighth year of the Moor-

summit All acknowledged that blood and treasof Spanish glory. ure would have gone for nothing but for her surprising fortitude in times of trouble and almost general despair. “The chivalrous heart of the Spaniard,” says Prescott eloquently, “did homage to her as his tutelar saint and she held a control over her people, such as no man could have acquired in any age and probably no woman, in an age and country less romantic.” In order to take Granada, the stone-and-mortar camp “the of Santa Fe was built outside the Moorish capital ish

wars

closed in 1490, with Isabella nearing the

;

—

—

only city in Spain,” says Estrada, “that has never been

contaminated by the Moslem heresy.”

Inasmuch

as

Mai-

ISABELLA

x

5*

aga had been sold into slavery because it had resisted, Abdallah, the Caliph at Granada, set out to obtain better terms. The conquerors agreed to protect the Mohammedans in their religion, and to leave them their mosques. In

fact,

the terms, on paper, were nearly

would grant

When, silvery

what a conqueror

to-day.

on the 2d of January, 1492, the great Cross of Ferdinand was seen shining in the suntherefore,

St. James the Disciple waved from the red towers of Alhambra, the grandees of Spain, surrounding the Queen did homage to her as the Sovereign of Granada, and looked upon both her and her spouse, the King, as more than mortal, as beings sent by the Almighty

beams, while the standard of

for the deliverance of Spain.

This triumph, which caused a sensation so profound

in

Europe, ended a Moorish domination of 741 years. While this eleven-year crusade had been going on, and Isabella

had been draining every

financial

resource

to

secure funds, and resorting to every expedient to keep the

proud nobles

in

some

sort of league, there

had followed

her court, for most of the time, an elderly, high-browed, scholarly man,

who drew upon

himself the ridicule of the

ignorant, but gradually acquired the respect of the great.

On

was spherical, he desired to sail westward on the Spanish Ocean and reach the Kingdoms of Kublan Khan, which Marco Polo had gained only by an overland journey of three years through Tartary. Isabella had set the matter before her learned men, but the theory that the earth

—of —was godly or reasonable.

they did not believe the doctrine of the Antipodes people with their feet upwards

A confessor of the Queen, Juan Perez, had encouraged the theorist to

hope on, and when from the camp of Santa Fe,

the surrender of the Caliph

another appeal was

was seen

to be forthcoming,

made by Christopher Columbus,

the

*

FAMOUS WOMEN

52

theorist, to the

Even

powerful Queen.

de Leon, even the richest dukes, did not

send

men and

ships over the abyss into

sun sank every evening.

As

the great feel

Ponce

disposed to

which the Spanish

for Ferdinand, he ever

looked upon the matter as the dream of a madman.

When, that

at last, the

Queen heard

the views of Columbus,

enough gold could be brought home from Asia

to con-

quer Jerusalem and Constantinople, she was of a mind to treat, but the demand of Columbus, that he be made Admiral over his discoveries, did not seem possible to her, as he was a Genoese sailor, and such offices were only for

When, at last, these compunctions were removed, and Isabella came to look at the matter in the light of a crusade, she became enthusiastic, and the cold views of Ferdinand could no longer restrain her. “I will assume the undertaking,” cried she, “for my own crown of Castile, and I am ready to pawn my jewels to defray the expenses of it, if the funds in the treasury shall be found inadequate.” The treasury of Aragon lent the money, and it was paid back to Ferdinand, who gilded his saloons at Saragossa with the first gold Columbus brought home. The agreement with Columbus was made at Santa Fe, near Granada, April 14, 1492. By this act, which passed for so small an item in her old Castilian blood.

administration, Isabella became one of the most spectacu-

and she, whose career cannot be magnitude of her doings, is generally known among seventy millions of Americans for the single act of womanly faith and emotion which offered to Columbus the opportunity of doubling the area

lar characters in history,

briefly told, because of the

of the

known

Almost

world.

at the

same time that the parchments

of

Christopher Columbus lay on the council tables of the

Queen

at Santa Fe, outside of Granada, the edict for the

ISABELLA

I

53

expulsion of the Jews from Spain was also under consideration,

it was war had

and

that, as

triumph

the

first

signed.

It

would be thought

so softened the asperities of Christian

as to spare the Moslems, the

shared this charity, especially

Jews might have as they had been well taxed.

On March

30, 1492, it was proclaimed that, after July 31, every unbaptized Jew must depart from Spain. 1492, Some chroniclers estimate the emigration at 160,000 souls;

some

at 800,000.

No

smaller figures.

Probabilities strongly favor the

person could take gold or silver out

The horrors of the emigration were shocking, and once more brought on the plague. No theory can be evolved we think, that will excuse Isabella’s action, or render it logical. Her declaration that, “when a college or corporation of any kind is conof Spain.

victed of any great or detestable crime,

it is

right that

it

should be disfranchised (enslaved), the less suffering with the greater, the innocent with the guilty,”

when

she applies

it

is

tenable only

to all corporations alike,

and she has

but a few months before, granted religious freedom to the

very

Mohammedans

that she spent so

In the Moslems, too, she had an

treasure to overthrow.

enemy as

much blood and

must suffer But the Jews were clannish rather than prop-

intolerant as herself one or the other ;

in the end.

The

agative.

act of Isabella, following the treaty of

an example of cold-blooded Castilian cruelty and hypocrisy, without excuse or palliation in argument Granada,

is

or state-craft.

Columbus made quest of Granada, best.

his first return the year after the con-

when

the affairs of Isabella were at their

He came through

a triumphal entry in

Roman

fashion.

Six Indians, par-

and animals new to Spain, rare mediof golden ornaments were a part display a and

rots, stuffed birds

cinal plants,

Portugal to Barcelona, and made

FAMOUS WOMEN

*54

of the pageant. bus, sitting

Ferdinand and Isabella awaited Colum-

on a public throne, and rose to their feet as

he approached.

They ordered him

to be seated in their

Everybody thought Asia had been vision of much-needed wealth rose in the reached, and the Spanish mind with overpowering effect. The King and Queen, listening to his recital, fell upon their knees and gave thanks to God, and the people were quick to fall prostrate. The six Indians were at once baptized by the King, Queen and Crown Prince John, and twelve priests were presence, a rare Castilian procedure.

an ancient and wealthy

civilization

sent to carry the church into the interest in this matter

in

new

world.

Isabella’s

was very keen, while Ferdinand

proceeded with expedition to reap the financial advantages that he supposed were at hand.

When Columbus

arrived at Cadiz, in chains, in 1500,

was a cry of anger throughout Spain. Isabella was She liberated him, sent him 2,000 ducats, and invited him to Granada to hear his side of the story. The Queen wept as Columbus approached, and that great and venerable man, finding at last a friendly heart, threw himself at her feet and was himself overcome with emotion. The fact that Ferdinand was still permitted to deal in smooth phrases and do wrong to the foremost of mariners and philosophers, puzzled the will of Columbus and darkened the remainder of his days. And although some measure of justice was done to him, yet it fell out that, as his troubles increased, the time of trouble had also come for his Queen, as we shall proceed to relate, and it is pos-

there

at Granada.

sible that the

sorrows of the Sovereign destroyed the peace

and ruined the fortunes of the discoverer. Isabella was perpetually annoyed with the declarations of Joan, daughter of Henry IV, that she was Queen of Castile, and therefore was glad to marry her daughter

ISABELLA Isabella to Alonzo,

Crown Prince

x

55

of Portugal.

Alonzo melancholy widow, returned to Castile. The King of Portugal himself died, and his successor sued died and

for

Isabella, a

young

Isabella’s hand.

She regretfully consented,

but only on condition that the Jews should be

expelled

from Portugal, as they had been from Spain, and Emanuel with sorrow issued the cruel edict and obtained his Castilian bride.

had a son John, Crown Prince, and another By treaty with Austria, Prince John married Margaret, the daughter of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, and Joan married the Archduke Philip, heir of the Austrian monarchy and, by his mother, heir to the sovereignty of the Low Countries. Isabella had still a third daughter, Catalina, and she married the King of England, and became the unhappy Catherine of Aragon. As France was estranged by these marriages, a great armada of 130 vessels sailed with Joan for Flanders, and was to return with the German Princess. Isabella dreaded the sea, and parted from her daughter Joan (who was to be the mother of two Emperors), with deep melancholy, increased by the recent death of her own mother, who, long before her death, had sunk into mental infirmities. Joan reached Flanders after a bad journey. Her marriage was celebrated at Lisle. Isabella

daughter, Joan.

The armada,

in

Princess through the

returning,

Bay

brought

the

German

of Biscay in midwinter storms.

After awful perils she landed, and was married to Prince

John

at

Burgos with a pomp previously unexampled

in

Spain.

While Ferdinand and Isabella were marrying their daughter Isabella to Emanuel of Portugal, at the Spanish town nearest to the Portuguese frontier from Segovia and Madrid that is, at Valencia de Alcantara, close to the

—

FAMOUS WOMEN

156

Tagus River

—news came

that Prince John was dying at Only Ferdinand could post away. He sent back dispatches of hope to Isabella. John died October “Thus,” says Peter Martyr, who was 4, 1497, aged 20. at the Prince’s dying bed, “was laid low the hope of all Spain.” He was a good young man, and the grief of the nation was profound. Isabella received the news of the death of her son with meek and humble resignation. “The Lord hath given, Lord hath taken blessed and the away; be His name !” said she in low voice. She who had caused so many others to suffer had no disposition to escape from sufferings of her own. The Queen of Portugal, Isabella the younger, was now Crown Princess. But news came that Duke Philip, Joan’s husband, had assumed for himself and wife the title of

Salamanca.

Princes of Castile, implying their claims to the succession.

Accordingly, Queen Isabella, the mother, sent for the King

and Queen of Portugal

come to the sittings of the SpanThey reached Toledo in April, The oaths were taken, and the pair moved on to 1498. Aragon, where the matter was much more difficult. The Parliament at Saragossa would not swear fealty to a woman. The angry Queen cried out “It would be better to reduce this country by arms at once, than to endure this insolence of the Parliament!” But the Knight Antonio de Fonseca replied: “The Aragonese have only acted as good and loyal subjects who, as they have been accustomed to mind their oaths, consider well before they And we now must be most certainly excused take them. if we move with caution in an affair that we find so difficult to

ish Parliament at Toledo.

:

to justify

by precedent

in

our history.”

Matters were delayed, pending the birth of young Isabella’s child,

which, on August 23, 1498, proved to be a

ISABELLA son, thus disposing of a

mother died one hour

vexed question.

57

But the young

later.

The infant was named Miguel, on whose day

J

honor of St. Michael, Miguel was borne through the in

was born. arms of his nurse, in a magnificent litter, and, acording to the laws of Aragon, Ferdinand and Isabella were appointed guardians. The Queen again testified her resignation, but could not leave her bed till the 2d of September, when she, with it

streets, in the

Ferdinand, oath.

in

the

Parliament

The Parliament

of

Saragossa,

made

of Castile followed in January,

1499, an d of Portugal in March.

Thus, for a time, the

crown of all Spain was suspended over one head. The little Miguel died before he was two years old, and Joan was indeed Crown Princess. She loved her Austrian husband, but he had another charmer. The impetuous and half-mad Joan flew at the rival and tore her face with the nails of a jealous wife.

This made a great scandal

and it was under circumstances so cruel that Charles V was born at Ghent to Joan. The Archduke and Joan at last came to Spain to receive the allegiance of the nation. The infant was more than a year old. He was destined to become King of Kings, sovereign over a larger territory than any potentate had previously ruled. Joan was recognized, even in Aragon, where Isabella the younger had been rejected. The Archduke Philip hurried away from Spain, leaving Joan, his passionately affectionin Europe,

ate wife, in a condition that prevented her going with him.

“From

the hour of Philip’s departure,” says Peter Martyr,

“she refused

all

consolation, thinking only of rejoining her

absent lord, and equally regardless of herself, her future

Her second child, and her afflicted parents. Ferdinand (afterward Emperor), was born in March, subjects,

1503.

In

November

she announced her determination to

FAMOUS WOMEN

158

depart, which, in the state of things,

war being imminent

between France and Spain, was impracticable.

Joan was

Medina

at

del

Campo, west of Segovia.

was at Segovia. One evening Joan left her apartand the Bishop of Burgos, in charge of the castle, was compelled to shut the gates in order to prevent the Princess from going forth scantily dressed. Thus thwarted, the mad Princess menaced the attendants with her vengeance, and stood on the barriers in the cold till morning, shivering and suffering very much, but growing more angry with each hour. The embarrassed Bishop, in Isabella

ment

in the castle,

this dreadful

dilemma, not daring to lay violent hands on

the great personage, sent in haste for the Queen,

who was

forty miles away.

The Queen was

too feeble to

come

to the rescue at once,

but sent on two of her greatest dignitaries, and followed as fast as she could.

The

best terms that the Queen’s people

could obtain from Joan were that she would retire to a

humble kitchen outside for the nights, but as soon as it was light she again took her station on the barrier, and stood there immovable all day. When the Queen arrived, the habitual deference of Joan for her mother regained

sway, and the Princess, after to her

apartment in the

The French and the

sick

and

much

its

persuasion, returned

castle.

at this

very time, were invading Spain,

bitterly disappointed Isabella once

more,

as in the glittering days of the crusades against the Moors,

lighted the fires of patriotism in Spanish hearts.

She

passed her days, with her whole household, in fasting

and continual prayer.

She personally

visited the religious

houses of Segovia, distributed alms, and implored them

most humbly supplicate the Almighty to avert the impending calamity. Ferdinand, as he had been fortunate at Naples, was

to

ISABELLA

'*59

fortunate now. The French came and retreated. Ferdinand could have captured France to the Loire. This was as late as 1502. It has not been necessary to speak of the Grand CardiMendoza, for twenty years “the third King of Spain,” but with his death, in 1495, there came upon the public

nal

scene a priest, in the person of Ximenes,

who may

be con-

sidered as having figured as one of the principals of

the political pontiffs of history.

When Mendoza

all

died,

he recommended Ximenes, confessor of the Queen, to succeed him as Archbishop of Toledo and chief minister.

Ximenes was history.

He

59.

He

had been

had already had a remarkable

in prison for six years for strict

obedience to orders and yet for contumacy.

He was a pro-

digious scholar, and the polyglot Bible of Ximenes, with

Hebrew, Chaldee, Septuagint Greek and Latin versions, is still a monument in the world of letters. He had been a successful treasurer of estates, and had secured an income of 2,000 golden ducats a year, when, to the chagrin of all his friends, he resigned his various employments and entered on a novitiate in a monastery at Toledo. He joined the Observantines in the Franciscan order.

He

on the ground, or on the hard floor, with a billet of wood for his pillow. He wore hair-cloth next to his skin. He exercised himself with fasts, vigils and stripes. But his deprivations made him famous, and multitudes came to confess to him. Accordingly, Be retired to a mountain fastness, where he dwelt in a cabin scarce large enough slept

to contain him.

Here he prayed, studied

the Sacred Vol-

ume, ate only the green herbs or chestnuts, and drank from the running brooks. His frame wasted with abstinence, and his brain grew ecstatic in the meditations of his solitude.

This period he ever after considered the most

isfactory of his long

life.

Time went

on,

sat-

and though

FAMOUS WOMEN

i6o

Ximenes would gladly practice, it could not but be seen that he was a most unselfish and godly man. By the time Talavera, confessor of Isabella, had been elevated to be Archbishop of Granada, the great and peculiar Queen had begun to lean so heavily on her conevents interfered with the

austerities

.

which

fessor that Mendoza could think of but one man in the kingdom who would not abuse such a place. This was Ximenes. He was ordered to assume direction of the Queen’s conscience. There came into court, says Peter Martyr, in effect, a confessor, in whose wasted frame and

careworn countenance the nobles seemed to behold a father of the desert. He was famous throughout Spain

pallid,

for his piety, and Peter was sorry to think how soon Ximenes would become a crafty and designing politician. The priest reserved the right to remain in his own monastery, and, when he traveled, went on foot, begging alms. He was elected Provincial of his Order in Castile, and found the houses sadly luxurious and even licentious. To give him greater moral authority, Isabella visited the nunneries in person, and with her needle and distaff gave examples of industry and humility. This' had gone on some time when Mendoza died. Ferdinand wanted the vacant place for his own natural son, Alfonso, Archbishop of Saragossa. But Isabella nominated Ximenes. One day the Pope’s bull of confirmation reached Isabella at Madrid. She summoned Ximenes. The anchorite entered. She placed the parcel in his hands.

the

Holy

He

Father.

devoutly kissed the communication of

He

read the superscription

:

“To our

venerable brother, Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros, Archbishop-elect of Toledo.”

He changed color,

involuntarily

dropped the packet from his hands, exclaimed, “There

is

ISABELLA a mistake,

it

161

cannot be intended for me!” and

apartment without leave.

Nor

left

the

did he return.

The Queen sent two grandees, whom he liked, to argue with him and persuade him. They found he had fled from his monastery. They overtook him in the noonday heat nine miles on his way to the Franciscan monastery at Ocana.

He at first

refused to return.

"to pass the remainder of

my life,

monastic duties. to

burden

me

my

"I hope,” he said,

days in the quiet practice of

It is too late to call

me

into public

with the responsibility for which

neither capacity nor inclination.”

I

have

He, however, obeyed

Queen to come back. At court he persisted for six months in refusing to be consecrated, when there arrived from Rome a second bull, ordering him to obey the Church and interpose no further objection. On this, he could no longer postpone action, and was the positive order of his

advanced to the primacy in Spain. They had caught a Tartar in Ximenes.

The deceased

Mendoza’s brother held a great office. His friends came on with their "papers” to support him for the place again under Ximenes. They recalled the great Mendoza’s former favor to Ximenes. Ximenes said the young Mendoza must go. "The sovereigns may send me back to the cloister, but they cannot make me appoint a man on personal considerations.” The Queen would not interfere, although she was surprised and perhaps mortified. Ximenes triumphed, and Mendoza was lost. Then Ximenes met Mendoza on the street, and saluted him with the old title. Mendoza stared. Ximenes again saluted him by the title that had been refused. "Now that I am at full liberty to consult my own judgment, without the suspicion of sinister influence,” said Ximenes, "I am happy to restore you to a station for which you are well qualified.” Thus was established the axiom that if an Voi,. 5

— ii

:

i

FAMOUS WOMEN

62

office-seeker applied to Ximenes, he must lack both merit and humility. The Holy Father at Rome admonished Ximenes to live in state. So far as met the public eye, Ximenes complied. From a luxurious table he ate only his former kind and quantity of food. Under his silk or furs was the haircloth, which he mended with his own hands. Within the draperies of his luxurious couch was a pallet, on which he slept.

Ximenes now

set out to entirely

reform the Franciscan

and Augustine orders. The outcry in Spain was thereupon so loud that it engaged the attention of Rome. The reform meant poverty instead of wealth, humility instead of arrogance. Ximenes boldly asked the Church of Christ in Spain to accept the example of Jesus as a sound working-theory of

life.

The

general of

all

the Franciscans in

Europe came to Isabella, possibly little considering the gloomy and fanatical tendencies of her own character. Thus he spoke to the great Queen “Why have you selected for a chief priest a man who is

destitute of nearly every

even that

qualification,

of

whose sanctity is a mere cloak to cover his ambition; whose morose temper makes him an enemy of even the birth;

common courtesies of life ? evil

which

day

not too late to rectify the

measures have brought on our your Highness value your own fame, or the of your soul, you will compel this man of }^esterhis intemperate

Church, and interests

It is

if

to abdicate his office

and return to

his

original

obscurity.”

“Art thou

in thy senses,

whom

and knowest

thou

speakest to ?” asked Isabella.

“Yes,” cried the desperate

friar,

“I

am

in

—

my

senses,

and know very well whom I am speaking to to the Queen !” of Castile, a mere handful of dust like myself

ISABELLA With with

all

163

that he ran out of the room, shutting the door

the noise he could make.

In brief the entire power of the European church was

again leveled against Isabella, but she listened to Ximenes, and, after a prodigious ecclesiastical turmoil, the greatest

she had yet experienced, Ximenes reformed the Orders,

a feat that reflected eternal glory on the reign, and on the Spanish Church.

This Ximenes has been imposed on the attention of the reader because, thus backed by the devout Isabella, he

was

to

go forth

into the land of the infidels, and, all treaties

to the contrary,

was

to convert the

ada to the worship of the

Mussulmans of Gran-

cross.

The court went to Granada in the autumn of 1499, and Ximenes came with it. Then the court went to Seville, but Ximenes stayed behind. He at once summoned the

Mohammedan

doctors,

and,

being an

expounded the Christian doctrines

in a

Moslem argument.

give least offense to

presents of costly dress, which the

accepted with delight, and

many

that

man, would

He made

liberal

eloquent

manner

war-worn

infidels

great teachers embraced

Granada came in for baptism in multitudes, so that the gratified Ximenes was compelled to baptize them by aspersion, scattering drops of holy water by an instrument, in order that all should be reached. The Moors who relied on the treaty, made protest against the strange “revival,” and particu-

the Cross.

Seeing

larly a noble

Moor named Zegri,

this,

the populace of

stood well in the way, for

would bring him away from Mohammed. Ximenes gave Zegri into the hands of Leon (lion), an officer “a lion,” says Gomez, the historian, “by nature as well as name.” “Take such measures with neither gifts nor arguments

—

the prisoner,” ordered Ximenes, “as shall clear the film

from

his eyes.”

Down

went Zegri deep

into the vaults,

FAMOUS WOMEN

164

and

after fasting, fetters, and, perhaps, torture, he

came

before Ximenes and humbly stated that “on the preceding-

who had shown commanded him to receive

night he had had a revelation from Allah,

him

the error of his ways, and

instant baptism.

Your

reverence/’ said he, “has only to

turn this lion of yours loose

word

for

it,

there will not be

within the walls of Granada

among the people, and, my many days a Mussulman left

!”

“Thus,” exclaims the historian Ferreras, with a canting phrase which excites our wonder at his lack of the sar-

humor

donic

of the

Arab

—“thus did

of the darkness of the

itself

benighted mind of the

dungeon

Providence avail to

pour on the

infidel the light of the true faith

!”

In the end, Granada rebelled, and Ximenes stood in

danger of his

When

He

life.

confronted this peril with joy.

was put down, Ferdinand was of a mind But Ximenes reached Seville, showed Isabella that now the Moors could either be baptized or exiled, and returned triumphantly to accept the riot

that at last he could ruin Ximenes.

the baptism of 50,000

The

fiercest of the

who

did not wish to get into Africa.

Moors emigrated, and

the

Moors who

were baptized were called Moriscoes. In the end it fell out, so well did the character of Ximenes accord with the humor of the Queen and the ideals of the Spaniards, that even the prelates who had been temperate for the first eight years at Granada, declared that, after all, God had clearly sent Ximenes, for while Isabella might gain the soil,

Ximenes had gained the

souls.

might backslide if contaminated with the obstinate infidel, an edict or pragmatica, dated at Seville, February 12, 1502, ordered all unbaptized Moslems out of Spain by May, and Finally, for the reason that the baptized

Isabella

might

had not strained her Jew or Moslem. There was not an

feel at last that she

conscience on either

— ISABELLA unbaptized

human being

in

i6 5

Spain—all were

Christians

work was fully done. Ferdinand and Ximenes like Abu-bekr,

the bloody and fiery and ostracising

Thus,

—

too,

Omar, Ali and the others who were with the fanatical rose in the minds of the people to the

Mohammed deified

—

rank of companions of the saintly

Isabella,

who

now, weighted with the fatigues of state, and smitten with the death and distraction of her children, sank rapidly toward the grave. But we must not dismiss Ximenes from bur attention without saying that he had Spain from Ferdinand to keep for Charles V; that he was supreme regent for at least twenty months; that he was coldly treated by Charles V, and died at 81, some said of chagrin, and some of poison it might as well have been one as the other, considering what he had done for Charles V. At the utter break-down of Isabella’s health, in 1503, the Parliament, alarmed by existing conditions, petitioned her to make a will providing for a government in case of

—

Joan was now in Flanders, once more, where her troubles were increasing. In June of 1 504, both Ferdinand and Isabella fell ill, at Medina del Campo, with the same malady. Ferdinand recovered. “The Queen’s whole system,” said Peter Martyr in a letter from her bedShe loathes side, “is pervaded by a consuming fever. food of every kind, and is tormented with an incessant

Joan’s incapacity.

thirst,

while the disorder has

all

the appearance of ter-

minating in a dropsy.” All this while

Columbus was himself

ill

and

in dis-

grace, unable or unwilling to present himself to any other

than his patron,

On

October

who was

dying.

14, 1504,

Peter Martyr writes:

sorrowful in the palace the hour her.

when

religion

all

and virtue

She so far transcends

“We

sit

day long, tremblingly waiting all

shall quit the earth

human

with

excellence that there

1

FAMOUS WOMEN

66

is

scarcely

anything of mortality

can hardly be said to

die,

about

She

her.

but to pass into a nobler ex-

which should rather excite our envy than our sorShe leaves the world filled with her renown, and she

istence,

row.

goes to enjoy this

life eternal

between hope and

with her

fear,

God

in heaven.

while the breath

I

write

is still flut-

tering within her.”

On the

1 2th of October she had executed her will. In she orders document that her remains that be transported to Granada, to the Franciscan monastery of Saint Isabella in Alhambra, and there placed in a humble sepulchre with

a plain inscription.

King,

my by

“But,” she stipulates, “should the

my lord, prefer a sepulchre in some other place, then my body be transported thither, and laid

will is that

his side; that the

union

we have enjoyed in this world, may hope again for our

and, through the mercy of God,

may be represented by our bodies on She commands that her funeral shall be performed in the plainest and most unostentatious manner, and that the sum saved by this economy shall be given in alms to the poor. She calls to the attention of her succesShe leaves sors the importance of retaining Gibraltar. the kingdom to Joan as Queen proprietor, and begs espeShe appoints Ferdinand cial reverence for Ferdinand. Regent in case of need, and until the majority of Charles V. She remembers Beatriz, the surviving companion of “I beseech the King my her youth. She concludes: souls in heaven,

earth.”

lord that he will accept select,

all

my

jewels, or such as he shall

so that, seeing them, he

singular love I always bore

am now

may

be reminded of the

him while

living,

and that

I

waiting for him in a better world; by which remembrance he may be encouraged to live the most justly and holily in this.” She appoints Ferdinand and Ximenes the two principal executors.

ISABELLA

167

After signing this document, she daily grew weaker month. She added a codicil November 23, in which

for a

she begged her successors “to quicken the good

work of new

converting and civilizing the poor Indians of the world.”

Now she was

She saw around her bed a great number of the very friends of her youth, and was possibly more blessed in this regard than any other historical personage so

dying.

illustrious.

This speaks well both for her and

for Castilian manners.

“Do

not weep for me,” she said, “but pray for the

salvation of

my soul.”

On

receiving the extreme unction

and note that she had

she refused to have her feet exposed, as therein caused the Spanish historians to

is

usual,

ever been one of the most modest women whom Spain had brought forth. She gently expired a little before noon, November 26, 1504, at Medina del Campo, aged only 54, in the thirtieth year of her reign. She was not so old when she died as was Ximenes when he came to her. “My hand,” says Peter Martyr, “falls powerless by my side for very sorrow. The world has lost its noblest ornament, a loss to be deplored not only by Spain, which

she has so long carried forward in the career of glory, for she was the mir-

but by every nation in Christendom

;

ror of every virtue, the shield of the innocent, and an

avenging sword to the wicked. I know none of her sex, in ancient or modern times, who, in my judgment, is at all worthy to be named with this grand woman.”

A

body of ecclesiastics and cavaliers left Medina at once on a direct route southward through Arevalo, Toledo, and Jaen, to Granada, carrying the unembalmed body of A tremendous storm set in, and the deceased Queen. neither sun nor stars appeared during the whole journey.

1

FAMOUS WOMEN

68

encounter such perils,” exclaims Peter Mar-

“Never did

I

tyr, “in the

whole of

my

The tempest continued

hazardous pilgrimage to Egypt.”

nearly unabated while the last rites

mausoleum were being performed. of Ferdinand and Isabella to-day is in the chapel of the Cathedral of Granada, where she willed it

at the

The tomb The

to be.

effigies

of the royal pair are sculptured in

The

white marble on a magnificent sepulcher.

adorned with bas of Granada.

reliefs

altar is

commemorative of the conquest

A month or so after the death of the Queen, the feeble Columbus, rising from his bed of illness, reached the court He who had made the Roman-like entry into

at Segovia.

Barcelona, only a few years before,

now arrived a

stranger

without consequence at the gates of an unwelcoming

The day had gone by

now

for saving souls.

at liberty to gratify his strong propensity

The

money. illness,

wrote from his dying bed:

with the Queen, seal.

rest to

I

God.”

to*

save

venerable Columbus, again stricken with

that his majesty does not think

and

city.

The monarch was

“It appears to

fit to- fulfill

me

that which he,

who is now in glory, promised me by word

have done

all

that I could do.

I leave the

CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI Painting by Clouet the Younger

CATHERINE A. D.

DE’ MEDICI

1519-1589

"the sceptered sorceress of

italia's

land"

We shall indite the long and gloomy career of ine de’ Medici

made a

Cather-

upon these pages, not only because she

great figure in history, but for the reason that

she was Italian in her origin, and

making a record of women

it

is

desirable,

in

worthy of their sex, to touch on the people of many regions. She was at first an Italian woman, with little influence, in a strange land. She did not carry with her the fashion of intrigue, the love of magic, the free play of treachery, that had spread from Italy into the French court. These things had gone before her. We cannot see that she was any worse than the people of her day, but they were nearly all bad. Poison, assassination, torture and civil war growing out of Luther’s rebellion had rendered society so discordant that, in the rapidly shifting interests and creeds that shall be

of political parties at that time, it

now

is

not always possible

to discern a logical procedure of events.

Double-

dealing was the fashion, and Catherine never took an im-

portant step without seeming to do the opposite thing at the

same

The

time, as a mask.

clear but cruel light of Isabella’s faith flickers

fades into a yellow and sickly beacon

peer through the religious

when we

strive to

atmosphere of France

A half century had passed

and in

on the borders of the ancient church. The Reformation was come. Whether it were right or wrong was no longer the quesCatherine’s time.

169

FAMOUS WOMEN

170

with French politicians.

tion

How many

crossbows,

would the new church command? To political problem it is clear that Catherine gave her thought, and gave it for the interest of her sons. We

archers, knights this

best

shall

endeavor to fairly quote ancient Catholic authori-

ties that

give her side of the questions involved.

Students desiring to form their

own

conclusions and

investigate this exceedingly difficult subject

to>

the end,

(French) Collection of memoirs preceding the Revolution of 1789 the following books, will find in the Petitot

The memoirs of Gamon, Hurault, La Noue,

which bear on the Queen-mother: Bouillon, Castelnau, Choisnin,

Margaret of Valois, Mergey, Montluc, Philippi, Saulx de Tavannes, and Gaspard and William Vielleville. She was not the only woman in France who had three kingly sons, for royal lines ended three times in three brothers. Joan of Navarre was the mother of Louis X, Philip V and Charles IV. Maria Josepha of Saxony was the mother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X. Characters in history are frequently marked indelibly by great events. The name of Catherine de’ Medici is connected with the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Accusers, apologists, encomiasts, must alike appear before this tribunal. Here, and nowhere else, can her cause be heard. Yet this was not all she did, nor was any party so strong in France that it need not fear, with the tolling of every bell, the fate that at last befell the one which proved the weaker numerically. Catherine de’ Medici was born at Florence, Italy, April She was the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, 15, 1519. Duke of Urbino, and Madelaine de la Tour d’ Auvergne. She was styled Duchess of Urbino, and her uncle was

Pope Clement VII. V, grandson of

The

Isabella,

great world-duel of Charles

and Francis

I

of France,

was

in

CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI progress.

In order to secure a

little

171

better hold

on

Italy,

where his fortunes had waned, the French monarch asked the hand of Catherine, who was an insignificant princess, for his second son,

V

while Charles

with

the

Duke

Henry Duke

of

Pope to accept

Guicciardini,

Mean-

When, however, Charles made such a proposal be advised

Milan.

learned that France had the

of Orleans.

had proposed a marriage of Catherine

it,

“thinking

the historian,

it

“that the

impossible,”

King

says

of France

should be in earnest, or ever intended to sink so low as

But Charles was mistaken. The Pope, embarking at Genoa, landed at Marseilles on the 4th of October, 1533, and the marriage of Catherine and Henry was celebrated on the 28th with all the display for which It is thus seen that Catherine was Francis I was famous. but 14 years old when she entered the French court. such an alliance.”

“The Pope, a France a

little

before his death,” says Guizot,

“made

fatal present” (referring to this union).

Nothing could have been more untoward than the She was entry of Catherine into the gay life at Paris. a despised Italian; she was of small title, and had not built up the interests of France with her dowry; for ten Her husband was under the years she liad no children. But, after ten rule of another woman, Diana of Poitiers. years, Catherine began to have children, and gave birth to

no

less

than

ten, nearly all of

whom

lived to be of age.

This altered and improved her destiny, for it gave her was a very able woman.

opportunities to act, and she

Her husband, because

of his elder brother’s death,

succeeded to the throne of France as Henry

II,

March

31,

wedding at Marseilles, and she was crowned Queen at St. Denis, June 10, 1549. Henry was a handsome man, easily wrought on by women, and faithful to his male friends. He called the 1547, fifteen years after the

FAMOUS WOMEN

172

Montmorency and St. Andre were Guise was a great

constable ers

of

The Guise brothhis other intimates. The Duke soldier. The other Guise was

his compeer.

St. Andre was a and boon companion of the King. He was generous and in debt. For ten years after her accession the proud Italian Queen was forced to behold the King with Diana in pub-

Cardinal of Lorraine, a crafty priest.

hail fellow,

lic,

ostentatiously

exhibiting his

desire

to

serve

her.

Catherine was supple and accommodating.

Diana,

whom

who was

she hated.

She caressed Montmorency, Diana, and was certain to

She

wholly given over to

flattered

She connived openly at the flagrant conduct of her husband, and with a bitterness that was thoroughly dissimulated she bided her time, which came

betray Catherine.

anon.

“The Queen/’ wrote the Venetian Ambassador

to the

Council of Ten, “is younger than the King, but only thirteen days.

She

is

not pretty, but she

is

extraordinary wisdom and prudence.

No

being

is

fit

to govern.

Nevertheless, she

possessed of

doubt of her

not considered

or consulted so

much

as she well

Five years

later,

Queen Catherine was

might be.” left in

Paris

The French were defeated. The as Regent of the realm. rich inhabitants were packing up, and leaving for the The King was at Loire, as their forefathers had done. Compiegne (where Joan of Arc was taken) trying to raise The Parliament was sitting at the Hotel a fresh army. de Ville in Paris, deliberating on the dire state of affairs

The Queen, of her own motion, went at the head of the cardinals and Princes then in the city, and before the Parliament she, in the most impressive language, set forth the urgent state of affairs at the moment. in France.

“She pointed out,” says Brantome,

“that, in spite of the

CATHERINE

DE* MEDICI

i73

enormous expenses into which the Most Christian King had found himself drawn in his late wars, he had shown the greatest care not to> burden the towns. In the extreme pressure of requirements, her Majesty did not think that any further charge could be made on the people of the country places who, in ordinary times, always bear the heaviest burdens. With so much sentiment and eloquence that she touched the heart of everybody, the

Queen then explained

King be paid every two

to the Parliament that the

had need of 300,000 livres, 25,000 to months. And she added that she would

retire

from the

place of session, so as not to interfere with liberty of dis-

cussion; and she accordingly retired to an adjoining

room. A resolution to comply with the wishes of her Majesty was voted, and the Queen, having resumed her place, received a promise to that effect. A hundred notables of the city offered to give at once 3,000 francs

The Queen thanked them

apiece.

words; and so

much

this session of

in the sweetest

form of

Parliament terminated with

applause for her Majesty and such lively marks

of satisfaction at her behavior, that no idea can be given of

them.

Throughout the whole

city

nothing was spoken

of but the Queen’s prudence and the happy

manner

in

which she proceeded in this enterprise.” From that day the position of Catherine was changed. The King went more often to see her. He added to his habits that of holding court at her apartments for about

an hour every day after supper in the midst of the lords and ladies. Meanwhile, Montmorency and St. Andre, having been captured in war, the position and authority of the Guise family increased, and Catherine had joined with them. There were six of the Guise brothers in all. They were uncles of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and no sooner

— FAMOUS WOMEN

i74

was Catherine’s eldest son, Francis, the Crown

Prince, of

age than they procured his marriage to Mary, thus intrenching themselves, as they supposed, impregsuitable

nably in the French court.

Henry

II

was a

loyal Catholic.

He

burned Lutherans, and went to see them at the stake. But, while he asked for the institution of the Holy Office in France, and obtained the bull from the Pope, the nobles

would not sanction it in Parliament, and thus the Catholics became seriously divided. But the Guises were looked upon by the clergy as the champions of the old church, while other great nobles Coligny, the Condes, Henry of Navarre, and others, were on the side of the reforms that Calvin and Luther had demanded. A large third party existed, that acted with the winning side. There flourished in Paris an astrologer named Luke Gauric. Catherine de’ Medici demanded of this magician a horoscope of her lord, the King. told that Plenry II

would be

received in his eye. rided, until

On lution

it

was

The

astrologer fore-

killed in a duel

by a wound was de-

It is said this prediction

verified

by the

event.

June 29, 1559, in a square that, during the Revo240 years later, was called the Place des Vosges,

very near the

Bastille,

a

little

north of the line of the Rue

de Rivoli, the King held a knightly joust.

Montgomery

In a

tilt

with

the sovereign was accidentally hurt, and

lived only eleven days.

Francis II, aged 16, and Mary Stuart, were now King and Queen of France, and Catherine was Queen-mother, a title she was to bear longer and more, significantly than any other woman.

King Francis

said to the Parliament:

approbation of the Queen,

Duke

my

mother,

I

“With

the

have chosen the

of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine,

my

uncles,

CATHERINE to

DE' MEDICI

have the direction of the state

—the

*75

former for war,

the latter in the departments of finance and justice.”

On

the very day of Henry’s death, Catherine went

Mary Stuart, who was now the reigning Queen: “Step in, Madame,” she said to Mary. “It is now your turn to go first.” Yet it is said she bitterly hated Mary, who had flattered Diana. Catherine fitted a room with black, with no light burning save two candles on a black altar. She was so robed in black that she could be scarcely seen by her attendants,

out to drive with

when they spoke to her, she replied in accents so weak and so broken with emotion that it was impossible and,

to catch her words.

dim

lights

was a

This dealing with black clothes and

characteristic

method by which Catherine

played on the sensibilities of those

whom

she wished to

inspire with terror. The very emotions which she evoked with such art and care have colored both history and romance, until she has come to appear as more

Mephistophelian than human.

Her

theatrical practices

have cast such a glamour over the eyes of Protestant historians that their tirades, as

we

shall

show, are more to be

quoted for their eloquence than their truth.

Her broken

accents

ended

with

her

domestics.

Montmorency no sooner saw her face than he knew he was in disgrace, and begged to leave for his estates. He was the Catholic who used to fast and pray, stopping in his Ave and Credo to cry to the Savior “Go hang that man for me!” “Tie that man to a tree!” and then on to :

his Lord’s prayer.

“Diana,” says the Venetian Ambassador, “was told by the King that for her evil influence over the King, his father, she ought to receive heavy chastisement but in his royal clemency he did not wish to disquiet her any further. She must, nevertheless, restore to him the jewels ;

FAMOUS WOMEN

17 6

“To

given to her by the king, his father.”

De Thou,

placate

“Diana was obliged to exchange her beautiful house at Chenonceaux-on-the-Cher for the castle of Chaumont-on-theLoire.” Still Diana was not visited with a malice such as Catherine would have shown had she been of the deeply diabolical character which is painted for her by the Catherine de’ Medici,” said

historian,

Protestants.

Meanwhile, Catherine reduced the power and enlarged the

titles

and emoluments of the Guises, but insuf-

calm the excitement of the Bourbon Princes. They formed a plot to> enter Blois, where the King was, ficiently to

to require the downfall of the Guises, and,

fused

it,

to attack the Guises with force.

the “tumult of Amboise,” of which

if

the

King

re-

This plot led to

Conde was the

pre-

tended leader, and the Guises went forth to hang and

drown

Conde was lured

the plotters in the Loire.

Paris, seized, tried,

and sentenced

to

to death, while Francis

moodily noted the disaffection of the people from the

“Go away,” he said

“and let us see which But Mary of Scotland, his Queen, persuaded him to change that order. Catherine was beginning to show her fear of the Guises, by warning their enemies of impending ruin, when Francis II sud-

crown.

one of us

it is

to Guise,

they hate!”

denly died. Charles IX, a child of io years, was

The

France.

now King

advantages of a union of her influence with

Conde and Navarre, and

hands.

still

better.

theirs.

Kill

they could reign in peace, with-

out fear of the Huguenots. could do

of

Guises pressed on Catherine’s attention the

But Catherine thought she IX was entirely in her

Charles

The child-King wrote

to Parliament that, “con-

and prudence of the Queen-mother, he had begged her to take a hand in the administration of fiding in the virtues

CATHERINE kingdom.”

the

The

DE* MEDICI

177

somewhat more and placed “the guardianship of the young King Charles IX in the hands of States-General,

jealously, ratified this action

Catherine de’ Medici, his mother, together with the principal direction of affairs, but without the title of Regent.”

Thus she was Regent

for the second time.

She had married her daughter Elizabeth Philip II of Spain.

To

my dear daughter, all

dame,

least anxious,

and

to the great

“Ma-

her, Catherine writes: I shall tell

you

is

not to be the

to rest assured that I shall spare

pains to so conduct myself that

no

God and everybody may

have occasion to be satisfied with me. * * * You have seen the time when I was as happy as you are, not dreaming of having any greater trouble than that of not being loved as

He

that.

I

should have liked to be by the King your

God took him from me, and

father.

has taken from

me your

is

not content with

whom I me with

loved

brother,

you well know how much, and has left young children and in a kingdom where

all is

three

division,

man in whom I can trust, and who has not some particular object of his own.” The Venetian Ambassador, a newcomer, now wrote home “The Queen-mother is a woman of 43, of affable having therein not a single

:

manners, ability in

great

moderation,

conducting

superior

intelligence

mother, she has the personal management She allows no one else to sleep in his room never away from him. As Regent and head of

of State.

As

of the King.

she

is

;

the government, she holds everything in her hands lic offices, benefices,

graces,

and the

King’s signature, called the cachet.

sea!

In the Council she

;

;

—pub-

which bears the

allows the others to speak she replies to anyone it

and

all sorts of affairs, especially affairs

who

needs

she decides according to the advice of the Council, or

according to what she Voi,. 5

— 12

may have made up

her mind

to.

FAMOUS WOMEN

178

She opens the letters addressed to the King by his Amand by all the ministers. She has great designs, and does not allow them to be easily penetrated. As for her way of living, she is very fond of her ease and pleasure. She observes few rules she eats and drinks a great deal. She considers that she makes up for it by taking a great deal of exercise on foot and horseback, for she goes hunting. She has an olive complexion, and is already very fat accordingly the doctors have not a good bassadors

;

;

opinion of her

,?

life.

The ambassador

now much

notes that she

has plenty of money, where, in earlier days, she was distressed for funds.

The Prince

of Conde, instead of being executed, was

freed and entered the Privy Council.

Guise was com-

make some amends to Conde, and when this had been done, Montmorency and St. Andre, of the middle or pelled to

neutral party, went completely over to the Guises, and the

Catholics were at last fairly well aligned against the HugueIt was Catherine’s destiny to be first on one side, and then on the other, and she has inherited the odium of

nots.

all

their crimes.

When Soubise was making converts to Calvinism, the Queen-mother had been very near making a confession of the new faith herself, and Bayle says it suited her mind Could she have married either best of the two creeds. of her two younger sons to Elizabeth of England, this would have followed. France was now hopelessly involved in a civil religious war, and it is not likely it could have been settled by even Isabella with a smaller effusion of blood than naturally

ensued.

In nine years under the let-alone policy of

Catherine, there were eighteen or twenty massacres of Protestants, four or five of Catholics, single

murders of great

celebrity.

and thirty or forty Four formal civil

CATHERINE

DE’ MEDICI

179

wars were waged, ending in four treaties after batand all these efforts at settlement terminated with the massacre of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 1572. Actors changed sides and opinions so rapidly with the tle,

current of events that no one was safe out of his

and

own

end the Protestant sovereign reigned, as the result of the assassination by a priest of a Catholic King. castle,

in the

Duke

Just as the

of Guise, after victories over the

Huguenots, with prospective glory before him, was ex-

IX (that is, Catherine, for Duke was assassinated by Pol-

citing the jealousy of Charles

she ruled his mind), the trot.

Catherine put Poltrot to the torture and he incul-

pated Coligny, who, though he was glad Guise was dead,

was not inclined to ignoble deeds. Poltrot was torn limb from limb by horses, and died cursing the Catholics and exulting in his deed. Without Guise, Catherine did not the Catholics consider so strong, and she made peace, dealing out the Protestant religion as a privilege which the great might indulge if they wished, but barring “the religion” entirely out of Paris, and denying it to the poor, Calvin cried out from save at great inconvenience. Geneva against this peace, and the Catholics cried out against Coligny,

who had been

tion by the tortured Poltrot.

implicated in the assassina-

Catherine solemnly de-

The King moved further toward war again came on. Again Catherine A third war and Conde, negotiated and stopped it. “enemy of the mass,” was killed at the battle of Jarnac. The Protestants had now a Conde to mourn, while the Catholics lamented the death of Guise, and Henry of clared

him not

guilty.

the Catholics, and

Navarre (The Great), a lad of 15, swore eternal fidelity Now the Protestants to young Conde and the new faith. had Coligny and Henry as leading figures. Catherine

FAMOUS WOMEN

i8o

outlawed Coligny and was at

last, it

was supposed,

how

When

wage her war.

treacherously she meant to

seri-

knew

ously in earnest against Protestantism, yet no one

she next treated for peace, she deceived even the Pope,

Pius V, who wrote to her that there could be no compact between Catholics and heretics, as there could be no peace between Satan and the children of light.

To the astonishment of the Catholics, nothing would now do but a marriage of Catherine’s daughter, Margaret, to

Henry

of Navarre.

Coligny and Henry, even Henry’s

great mother, Jeanne of Albret, were lured to Paris.

Coligny was addressed as

“my

“my

dear uncle,” and even as

dear father,” by Charles IX.

believe that he

Catherine, his mother.

my mother.

Charles

was desirous of shaking

She

is

made Coligny

off the influence of

“I see quite well you do not

the greatest meddler in

all

know

the world,”

whispered Charles to Coligny, when the twain had be-

come

familiar during Coligny’s stay at Paris.

In

fact,

Catherine appeared to be in a temper, and called Coligny Catholics in alarm left Paris to join were more openly loyal to the church. Yet

“a second King.” forces that

Henry’s mother, Jeanne, did not feel easy. To her there were suspicious appearances. The Queen-mother, Catherine, could not conceal

and, to Jeanne,

it

her hostility, try as she might,

seemed that

all

depended on the surprisIX had assumed.

ing air of independence that Charles

The

Catholic courtiers, seeing Coligny at the head of the

King’s councils, declared

it

was extraordinary “that the To them

vanquished should make laws for the victors.”

the trusting Coligny replied, in the presence of Charles,

whoever was not for war with Spain (which Coligny urged on) had the red cross inside him. The mother of Henry, Jeanne, she who had been ill-satisfied with proceedings, now died at Paris, and Catherine was afterward that

CATHERINE

DE’

MEDICI

181

accused of poisoning her.

This event did not delay the wedding. Henry came to Paris with a force of 800 men. The wedding took place at Notre Dame Cathedral, and,

when Margaret was asked for her consent, at the altar, Charles IX put his hand on her head and bowed it for her in assent. Then the Catholics in the party went to hear mass in the choir, while Henry, Coligny, and the other Protestants, walked about the nave. The guides pointed to Coligny the flags taken from the Protestants. “I hope/’ said the Admiral, fatuously, “we shall soon have others (Spanish flags) better suited for lodgment in this place.” This was August 18, 1572. “Let the Queen (Catherine) beware,” said Tavannes,

“of the King her son's secret counsels, designs, and sayings.

If she

him.

At any

do not look rate,

out, the

Huguenots

will

before thinking of anything

have

else, let

her exert herself to regain the mother's authority, which

Admiral Coligny has caused her

The Queen

made

to lose.”

on the sentiments of her son. She wrought a great change in his feelings, and he no longer desired war with Spain. She played the part of an injured mother, and retired from court. The King followed her and obtained a reconciliation. At this moment came the Polanders, asking Catherine to give them Henry, her favorite son, for King. Henry did not wish to go. Coligny wanted him out of France. Charles IX had grown suspicious of the brother. The brother went to see the King, who was with Coligny. The King appeared, there and then, to be of a mind to stab Henry with a poniard he had in hand. Henry ran out, and he and Catherine, at once, resolved on the destruction of Coligny, as a matter of life and death with them. This was Henry's recital in Poland, afterward. There was now a second Duke of Guise on the scene. at once

this attack

FAMOUS WOMEN

182

and there was the assassinated Duke's widow (now remarried and called the Duchess of Nemours) who thirsted for Coligny’s blood, they believing Coligny had egged on Poltrot to his deed. When Coligny had come to court They now returned, the Guise interests had withdrawn. and Catherine, Henry, and the Guises at once plotted to The plot that was brewing began to attract kill Coligny. the notice of faithful Protestants. left Paris,

Protestant soldiers

when they could not persuade Coligny to leave It was not believed that the Guises and

with them.

Coligny could both

live at court.

says the historian, reminding

Coligny received a

him “of

letter,

the Queen-mother’s

devious ways, and the detestable education of the King, trained to every sort of violence and horrible

Bible

is

Machiavelli.

He

blood of beasts for the shedding of

been persuaded that a Prince edict extorted

by

sin.

His

has been prepared by the

is

human blood.

He has

not bound to observe an

his subjects.”

While Charles had promised the Guises (Lorraine Princes) that they need not

make

friends with Coligny,

he said to Coligny: “You know, my dear father, the promise you made me not to insult any of the Guises.” Charles went on to say that while he relied on Coligny, he could not trust the Guises so well, and as they had brought an armed force to Paris, and might take vengeance into their own hands at any time, the King thought it

would be wise

to bring his

own

regiment to town

also.

Coligny consented, only observing that whosoever accused

him of

the assassination

was a calumniator.

On Friday,

the 22d of August, 1572, Coligny was shot from a window by people in the interest of the

arm young Duke of in the

There was fear the bullet was was a very sick man. and another son all Henry Charles, Catherine, m. Guise.

poisoned, for the Admiral (Coligny)

At 2

p.

CATHERINE

DE’ MEDICI

i

S3

He

was anxious to speak to Charles Catherine and Henry found themselves unproalone. tected in a house with some 200 armed and irate Protestants, and feared their end had come. They broke in on the King’s interview" with Coligny, and hurried him away. Begging to know what Coligny had advised, the King at last, with oaths, let the mother know that Coligny had urged Charles, as if on his bed of death, to get rid Catherine and Henry returned to the of his mother. Louvre palace in the greatest alarm, feeling that the crisis was at last arrived, as the King must be turned now or went

to see him.

never.

On

the next day, Saturday, a council

was

held, in

which the King alone represented the need of doing justice on young Guise. Then Catherine told Charles that she and Henry, his brother, were also in the plot against Could he afford to move against them? The Coligny. King held out well. The discussion on the general state It seemed certain to Catherine of France ran all day. that, by the course Charles was pursuing, he would be left entirely out of events with a big religious war on, and no one paying him allegiance. Toward midnight she began a very convincing line of argument. The Protestants had been lulled to sleep a fearful blow could be struck. “Permit At last, as the King hesitated, Catherine cried

—

:

me, then, and your brother, to retire to another part of the

kingdom!”

On

this Charles rose

from

his seat.

“By

God’s death!” said he, “since you think proper to the Admiral, I consent; but

all

the Huguenots

kill

in Paris

as well, in order that there remain not one to reproach

me

Give the orders at once.” It is said that Catherine had arranged for a massacre an hour before daybreak of Sunday, but now, on the King’s consent, the bell of the church nearest the Louvre

afterward.

FAMOUS WOMEN

184

was rung, and the Catholics began lighting their houses All “good Catholics” wore

with candles at the windows. Into

a badge.

and

In 1792

all

darkened houses soldiers might enter

So many people cannot be killed

slay. it

shortly

by hand.

The next mean for the

required 100 hours to slaughter 1,089.

night Charles sent for

Henry

of Navarre. “I

future,” the King said, “to have but one religion in my kingdom the mass or death Choose !” Catherine and Henry her son, King of Poland, were in the Louvre, and acted like the terrified spider, after he has enmeshed his fly. They even falsely sent word to spare Coligny. But Guise sent back word it was too late. To incite the people to murder was called “blooding” the mob, and after massacre !

;

and

were found

pillage

days.

The

went and did not cease for eight

to be legal, the lowest classes

at their labor with enthusiasm,

city of Paris paid for the sepulture of 1,100

bodies taken from the Seine River.

After wavering until

Guise took offense, the King, on Monday, with his entourage, held a bed-of- justice, or state assembly, at

which he

had concocted a conspiracy He had parried this fearful blow by another violent one, and he wished all the world to know it was done by his express commands. The massacre was called “the Paris matins,” and extended to many towns, though some were not disturbed. Davila, Catholic, thinks 10,000 people were killed; Sully, Huguenot, thought 70,000. asserted that the Admiral

against himself, his mother and his brothers.

Philip

II,

son of Charles, son of Joan, daughter of even deeper religious dye

Isabella, a fanatical despot of

than Isabella, laughed for the

first

offered to Charles his felicitations,

the rest of the heretics,

Now

if

time in his

life.

and “an army

He

to kill

need be.”

Charles declared that he had been in the plot

all

CATHERINE He was

along.

DE’ MEDICI

fond of repeating

:

“My

i8 5

big sister Mar-

got (Margaret of Valois, by marrying Henry of Navarre) caught all those Huguenot rebels in the bird-catching What grieved me most was that I was obliged to style. dissemble so long.” It is

common Again

remorse.

to relate that Charles pined it is

those of his deceased brother, Francis

Massion

tells

that Charles

to get his wife.

On

and died of

said he died of troubles similar to II.

was of a mind

Yet again,

to kill Gondi,

hearing this from Catherine, Gondi

poisoned Charles, and then Catherine poisoned Gondi. Charles died, leaving Catherine Queen-Regent for the third time, and

news was sent

to the

he was King Henry III of France.

King of Poland that The Queen-mother

locked herself in the Louvre with her younger son,

whom

she suspected of kingly ambition, sent for Montgomery,

who had

accidentally killed her husband, tortured him,

and beheaded him. A fourth religious war came to a close with the peace of Rochelle, and there were more Huguenots than ever before. Henry of Navarre regained his liberty.

We now enter upon the last stage of Catherine’s career. The tortuous thread

of the

drama dismays even the most

and makes plain the fact that few other who were compelled so often as she was to make friends of enemies and enemies of friends. There will now seem to be times when she is false to her own son, and we must see the younger son, the Duke of Alen^on, at the head of an army, and a menace to her Yet, at the same time, she was very near to marrypeace. King Henry, ing him to Elizabeth, Queen of England. patient reader,

persons have lived

who went

to

Poland a chivalrous captain, came back a harem of “minions,” as they were

carpet-knight, with a called,

and Catherine readily acquiesced

in this procedure,

1

FAMOUS WOMEN

86

thus, for the sake of policy, further blackening her

She had once

marry him,

tried to

name.

also, to Elizabeth of

England.

The growing power of national comment,

and

it

was now a matter of would seem that they made a

the Guises

strong attempt to secure Catherine to their ambitious interests.

They

desired to

make

Catherine’s grandson, a

prince of the house of Lorraine, the it is

King

of France, and

probable that the younger son of Catherine, Alen^on

(now Anjou), fled from Paris and put himself at the head army of malcontents because he thought Catherine

of an

had proved

The

false to her

own

house.

Catholic parties in France, dissatisfied with Cath-

erine’s lack of religious fortitude,

undertook for head.

its

formed a League, which

members henceforth to obey but one

This League, the planning of the Duke of Guise,

was a destruction of

all

the

work

solidating the French monarchy.

Henry stultified him

ances,

of Louis

To

XI

in con-

preserve appear-

III accepted its chieftainship, although this

as

King of

the Protestants of France.

For

a time, he played the ridiculous part in public of an anchorite, and, in sharing his personal exposures, the old

Cardinal of Lorraine (a Guise) caught cold and died from

When Henry

HugueAnjou (Queen’s younger son) had also raised an insurgent army, protesting war against Guise but loyalty to Henry III, the Duke of Guise People said naturally grew in favor with the Catholics. it.

of Navarre had rejoined the

nots at Bearn and the

that Catherine

man

Duke

of

must be one or the

other,

and no French-

could believe she was merely insane with the passion

home. She was now between 60 and 70 years old. She had been forty-three years a Queen, and for thirty years had lived Now she in an atmosphere of intrigue, night and day.

to govern, but so the Venetian spies wrote

CATHERINE

DE’ MEDICI

187

lent her services to her beleaguered royal

that has astonished historians.

It

son with a vigor began to be felt that her

—

would all die without issue who should have the crown, Bourbon or Lorraine? Guise (Lorraine) meant

children

To complicate matters, Catherine’s insurgent Duke of Anjou, died June 10, 1584. Henry of Navarre was now heir-apparent under the laws of succession. The League of Catholics at once made an alliance to seize

it.

son, the

with Philip II of Spain, and Henry’s uncle, Cardinal of Bourbon, a Catholic, was declared Crown Prince, and

Pope Sixtus

V outlawed

Henry of Navarre

as a relapsed

any duty of serving him even as King of Navarre, and Henry went to war for his rights, and won brilliant victories. heretic, relieving Catholics of

Catherine

now

forced

Henry

to join with Guise

and

the League, and to adopt the Catholic faith as the only one

Kingdom. When Henry of Navarre heard treaty of Nemours, it is said one-half of his mous-

legal in the

of this

The Parisians, well pleased with “Long live the King!” which Henry III

tache turned white.

Henry

III, cried

replied to but coldly, so bitterly did he regret the pass to

which he was come, of fighting with his natural successor on matters of religion, in which he had little interest, and his mother none, for we have seen that a holy war without fanaticism is but a bloody farce, that satisfies none and disgraces all alike. The “War of the Three Henries” was now on hand— Henry de Valois (Henry III), Henry de Bourbon (King of Navarre and heir apparent of France), and Henry de Guise, real head of the League. While

Henry

III

was of

necessity at

war with Navarre, his real Henry of Navarre would,

interests lay against Guise, for

at least, in self-interest, support the

which he ought to succeed.

French throne, on

Guise, however, urged on by

devout Catholics, was fast becoming an aspirant for

*

FAMOUS WOMEN

1 88

The Queen-mother now went Henry of Navarre at Cognac, and asked him

kingly power.

own

for his

Catholic,

sake,

meet

to

to turn

her daughter’s sake

(his

and the King’s sake. Henry refused, and the war (That the reader may not blame Catherine overmuch, it must be noted that Henry did this very thing after he was King of France, when Catherine was dead, so it must have been a wiser thing to do when Catherine urged it.) Guise went to Rome to promote his own claims to the throne of France. The League formally demanded of Henry III that he should be more zealous that the Holy Inquisition should be established that chiefs of the League wife’s)

went

on.

;

;

should be given great fortresses to hold in trust; that

it

should be mass or death for captives, after the good Spanish style as understood

by Philip

II,

who, because he feared

Navarre, and because these resolutions coincided with his

gloomy mind, gave animation to the hopes of the usurpers. On the 8th of May, 1588, the Duke of Guise appeared alone in Paris, and was enthusiastically hailed by the

He arrived in

masses as “the Pillar of the Church.” of the palace of Catherine de’ Medici,

“My

sight of him.

glad to see you, but

another time.”

King.

At

would

do.

A

who grew pale at am very

dear cousin,” said she, “I I

would have been

secretary hurried

the Louvre the “Is

front

better pleased at

away

to inform the

King asked Corso what he

he friend or enemy?” asked Corso.

Henry responded with his mother’s shrug. Corso offered to kill Guise. Guise came on bare-headed through a vast multitude, walking by the side of Catherine’s sedan chair.

The King

received Guise very coldly, which seemed to

disquiet the feet.

The

was now

young man.

All Paris, however,

was

at his

devotion that was ordinarily the monarch’s

offered to Guise.

When

Guise next approached

CATHERINE the

DE’ MEDICI

King he had 400 armed men.

On

the

189

nth and

12th

Paris rose in insurrection against the King, while Catherine

made two

visits to

Guise to bring him to terms.

Guise had the Louvre well invested.

At the last interview

Catherine appeared to yield the successorship, but, while she gained time, the King escaped.

“Madame.”

said

me

here,

Guise, “whilst your Majesty has been amusing

King

from Paris to harry and destroy me.” All outside Europe blamed Catherine and Henry for not having taken advantages of Guise to kill him when he first entered Paris so rashly, and these views, of course, the

made

is off

their

way

rapidly into France.

Henry fled to Chartres, where, strange made a peace with Guise, granting him all that was demanded, and Te Deum was sung at Notre Dame to celebrate the exclusion of Henry of Navarre from In August, 1588, the King and the royal succession. Catherine and

as

it

may

seem, he

Guise ate together. gress)

met

In October the States- General

at Blois to settle the dispute.

(

Con-

Guise appeared

have the Congress with him, but the King’s speech was so full of resentment that it alarmed Guise, and he ob-

to

jected to

its

publication.

urged her son

The Duke

to>

Catherine, at this

crisis,

again

give way, and he followed her advice.

of Guise wrote constantly of his success.

“Stupid owl of a Lorrainer !” said a League captain, “has he so little sense as to believe that a King whose crown he by deception has been wanting to take away,

is

not dis-

away?” Guise, as he advanced in his plan of curbing the power of the King, was urged the more to go away, for the time had not yet come, as in 1789, when a Legislature was popularly deemed safer or greater than a King. The King might

simulating in turn, to take his

do something

—and he

life

did.

Catherine gave a great wedding party

at Blois.

On

FAMOUS WOMEN

190

this night the assassination

guard she

was planned, but

in various

Catherine supported Guise’s request for a body-

ways.

—and

thus, at every turn in this

woman’s

career,

found to have acted both ways at once, evidently

is

to render her true purposes unfathomable.

On

the even-

ing of the 22d of December, 1588, Guise found under his

“The King means to kill you !” The next morning when Guise, as Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, went to the King’s council chamber, he found Catherine indisposed. He was summoned to the King’s closet, where he was killed by assassins, with poniards given to them by the King. Thus had father and son both perished at the hands of murderers. The Cardinal of Lorraine, brother of Guise, was killed by

napkin a note

soldiers,

and

:

his

body put beside the Duke’s. ill of the gout. “How do you

Catherine was

feel?”

asked her son. “Better.”

“So do Paris

is

I

I.

am King of France again.

“God grant not I

all.

that

hope the cutting

is right.

Now for the sewing.”

of Bourbon was also under

Catherine went to him, to promise him liberation.

“Ah madame !” lamented the old man, your tricks. You are death to us all.” !

this

of

you become King of Nothing-at-

The ambitious Cardinal arrest.

The King

dead.”

“these are

some of

It is said that

on

reception she retired in great anger, using harsh

language. «

She was,

in fact, very near her

own

death in that great

where France was so startled by Henry’s firm but bloody act. After her visit on a litter to Cardinal Bourbon, she was “seized with greater catarrhs,” and Castle of Blois,

died in pain of an unusual order.

She died

at a

moment when

the

King must have needed

CATHERINE

DE’ MEDICI

her counsel, for the tragedy of Blois had

191

made

a fearful

But he attended her affectionately, and bore to the end the part of her most affectionate son. “I leave to you,” said she to Henry, “my last advice, and I entreat that these dying words may be imprinted in your memory for the good of your realm. Love the princes of your own blood, and have them always about you, and more especially the King of Navarre. I have found them always faithful to the Crown, and they alone have any interest in the succession of the Kingdom. Remember, also, that if you would restore that peace which is so necessary to France, you must begin with granting liberty of conscience to your subjects.” At Paris, where indignation was rampant, following the death of the two Guises, there was public clamor that if the body of Catherine were brought to that city it should be cast in the common sewer, so well were all parties convinced that she was the adviser of the murders by the King. Moreri says her body was not carried to St. Denis (near Paris) until 1619, when it was interred in a beautiful chapel that she had herself begun to build. turmoil in Europe.

The pasquinades of the time represent her as to us

—

was

seriously in earnest.

inexplicable

in history

she seems

—the most capricious woman who ever And

probably there has been

no other environment so changeable and

kal-

thrown down its principal figure But she rode on, at the head in the march of its events. One of the verses to which of anarchy for thirty years. we refer says she was a devil and an angel full of blame and worthy of all praise; she sustained the state and ruined it; she brought opponents together and rendered more angry the debate she gave birth to three Kings and fifty civil wars she made good laws and bad edicts wish

eidoscopical that has not

;

;

;

;

for her, dying, both hell

and paradise/

FAMOUS WOMEN

192

She was

especially remarkable for the

elegance of the ladies

who resided

number and

with her, for the decora-

and equipages, and for the magand shows which she gave on ordinary, and on extraordinary occasions, as on the arrival of the ambassadors to announce her son tions of her palaces

nificence of the entertainments, ballets,

Henry’s election as King of Poland.

was so great

life

Her

that her heirs got but

liberality in

little

out of her

estate in the end.

De Thou and

Bayle load her name with the most Brantome and Davila adorn her with many among which a mother’s love, we think, shines

odious vices. virtues,

out brightest of

all.

Moreri, with French naivete, says

her administration was not to the taste of

We may

see that,

hesitated

till

efforts to

were

all

if

the last

man

all

the world.

Henry III moment before he struck, her many

a strong-willed

evade on-coming

like

issues, religious

and

political,

in the interest of avoiding the very crimes that

blacken her memory.

Our English

literature is

mainly Protestant, and, of

our commonly-read accounts of Catherine

course,

de’

Medici are remarkable for nothing save error and invective.

Yet, on account of

its

eloquence, the reader will

perhaps be willing to read Dr. Punshon’s peroration on her

which sounds as if it had been inspired by “Margaret of Valois:” “It is humiliating to our common nature,” says Punshon,* “to dwell upon the portraiture which, if history says sooth, must be drawn of this remarkable woman. character,

Dumas’

Her

thrilling novel of

character

is

a study.

Remorseless without cruelty,

and sensual without a passion; a diplomatist without a principle and a dreamer without faith; a wife without affection, and a mother without feeling, we look in vain *The Huguenots, By Rev. William Morley Punshon.

CATHERINE her parallel.

for

DE’ MEDICI

See her in her oratory

Catholic never told his beads

!

—

*93

— devouter

See her in the cabinet of

Ruggieri the astrologer never glared fiercer eye into elfland’s glamour and mystery, never were philter and potion (alas! not all for healing)

mixed with firmer hand.

—royal

See

her in the Council

room

commanding

Soldiers faltered beneath her falcon

who

glance

will.

caprice yielded

to>

her

never cowered from sheen of spears or

blanched at flashing

who had made matched them

steel,

and hoary-headed statesmen,

politics their study, confessed that she out-

in her cool

and crafty wisdom.

See her in

—more philosophical resignation never mastered

disaster

suffering, braver heroism never bared its breast to storm.

Strange contradictions are presented by her, which the uninitiated cannot possibly unravel.

Power was her

early

and her life-long idol, but when within her grasp she let it pass away, enamored rather of the intrigue than of the possession a mighty huntress, who flung the game rather

—

own royal satisfacchase. Of scanty sensi-

in largess to her followers, finding her

tions in the excitement of the

and without natural affection, there were times make young lives happy, episodes in her romantic life, during which the woman’s nature bilities

when

she labored to

leaped into the day.

ment of her

Toiling constantly for the advance-

sons, she shed

no tear

at their departure,

and

sat intriguing in her cabinet, while an old blind bishop

and two aged domestics were the only mourners who followed her son Francis to the tomb. Skeptical enough to disbelieve in immortality, she was prudent enough to provide, as she imagined, for any contingency, hence she had her penances to purchase heaven, and her magic to propitiate hell.

masque or

revel,

Queenly in her bearing, she graced the smiling in cosmetics and perfumes. But

daggers glittered in her boudoir, and she culled for those Vol. 5

— 13

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

*94

who

crossed her schemes flowers of the most exquisite

fragrance, but their odor

was

Such was Catherine

death..

de’ Medici, the sceptered sorceress of Italia’s land, for

whom

there beats

name no

no pulse of

tenderness, around

clinging memories throng, on

whose

whom we gaze with

a sort of constrained and awful admiration, as an embodi-

ment of power—but power —the power of the serpent—which cannot

cold, crafty, passionless, cruel fail

to leave

impressions on the mind, but impressions of basilisk eye

and iron fang and deadly gripe and poisonous

The

trail.”

Italian historical writers of that age are celebrated

neither for their brevity nor their eloquence, yet they knew something of the matters of which they spoke, and, if we

take Davila, whose folio volume

is

more than

with the affairs which Catherine directed,

we

half

filled

shall prob-

ably read somewhere near the feelings which her career inspired

among those of her own

race,

who admired

great-

woman and measurably indorsed the enterprises which a religious revolution and social overturning forced constantly upon the throne of France. Davila says “The Queen-mother departed this life on the eve of the Epiphany of our Lord, a day which was wont to be celebrated with great joy by the court and the whole Kingness in a

dom for

of France. the spacious

through

all

The

qualities of this lady, conspicuous

course of thirty years,

Europe,

of things that have been related.

abounded.

With

and famous

may be comprehended by

fitting

the context

Her prudence always

determinations she remedied the

sudden changes of fortune and opposed the machinations of

human

managed

wickedness.

the weight of

In the minority of her sons she

many

civil

wars, and contended at

once with the effects of religion, the contumacy of subjects,

the necessities of her treasury, the dissimulations of

the Great Ones, and the dreadful engines raised by

am-

CATHERINE Her

bition.

DE* MEDICI

career as a ruler

is

rather to be admired

distinctly in every particular action,

colored in a draft of

all

*95

than confusedly dead-

her virtues.

The constancy

of

courage wherewith she, a woman, and a foreigner, dared to aspire to the whole weight of government against so

many

competitors, and having aspired, compass

it,

and

it, .was much more like the man hardened in the affairs of the world woman accustomed to the delicacies of the court,

having compassed, maintain courage of a than of a

and kept so low during the life of her husband. But the patience, dexterity, and moderation which she exercised when under the suspicion of her son (who had had so many proofs of her devotion) were so great, that she still maintained herself in the government to this extent, that the King dared not, without her counsel and consent, resolve on those very things wherein he was jealous of her. “Banishing the frailties and imperfections of the female sex, she became always mistress of those passions which tempt the wisest from the right path of life. In her were a most elegant wit, royal magnificence, courtesy to the people, a powerful manner of speaking, an inclination toward the good, a most bitter hatred and perpetual ill-will to the bad, and a desire to advance and favor her dependants. “Yet, being an Italian, she never could

do' so>

much

that French pride did not despise her virtues, and those that

had a desire

tally, as

contrary

to>

Kingdom hated her mordesigns. The Huguenots in

disturb the

to>

their

and after her death, blasted and tore her name with poisonous libels and execrations.”

particular, both in her life-time

Davila concludes that several historians, in the ness of their desire to darken her

liveli-

memory, have over-

looked the fact that time and again she, by the acts for

which she

is

condemned, prevented the immediate over-

FAMOUS WOMEN

196

throw of the government committed to her hands, and he thinks that many of the crimes imputed to her, appear to reasonable judges to have been rendered either necessary or excusable by the urgency and evil character of public affairs.*

At

Blois,

tourist is

down

the Loire River from Orleans, the

shown the room where the Duke

of Guise

fell,

and the observatory where Catherine, with her astrologer, consulted the stars. But she should be regarded herself as a philosopher, who-, knowing the ignorance and superstition of the human mind, used the jargon and appurtenances of astrology as instruments with which to carry out her more practical designs. While she lived it was the enemies of her sons, not her sons, who were assassinated, and,

if

she treated with

Henry of Navarre,

so-

did Catholic

France in time, thus carrying out the ideas which she

recommended

to her son

when she

cused of duplicity the charge

nearly every step she took in

a glorious

be ac-

Henry

who had not a mother’s love to in his many changes of faith, who

of Navarre, conscience

If she

heavier on

died.

falls still

name

in

sustain his

profited by and who- yet preserved with orators themselves

life,

history,

gathering fame by waving his white plume, while at the

same time they

retreat in terror before her basilisk eye.

hard to find a great was not well acquainted with

For, barring Coligny, perhaps, character of the time

who

poison, the dagger, treachery,

it is

and

dissimulation.

The

The The

lesson of her fruit-

of the dark ages had become tiresome.

Even the weight

age of Joan of Arc had passed. less sacrifice had been too clear.

cant and hypocrisy

of etiquette and ceremonial rites bore heavily on the pa-

many, and in this feudal effervescence the lives of prominent actors on the stage of public events were * Davila: Civil Wars of France, book 9. tience of

CATHERINE as

much

DE* MEDICI

197

in peril in times of peace as in times of war.

Catherine passed through two generations of Guises,

own

had been

issue

fell

stilled in

—

—

two sets of assassinations and by the assassin only after her counsel death at three score years and ten.

Bourbons, and Condes her

ELIZABETH A. D. 1533-1603

"the virgin queen "

When it

still

the story of this great reigning

woman

is

remains that the most wonderful thing of

left out.

probably

told

all is

There lived among her subjects, as a play actor, unknown or at least little known by her, William

who bids fair to be hailed by a large part of human race as its brightest intellectual ornament. In an age when coats of mail and knightly deeds still figured Shakespeare,

the

on the

way

battle-field, he,

with other players, in out-of-the-

and under the frowns of both the brave and the industrious, simulated the ardor and the acts of heroes and of kings. When he had gained some wealth he purchased a house in Stratford, rose out of the disgraces of his early livelihood, and died so respectable that, with proper interest in his person by courtly people, he might have appeared in the same room with Queen Elizabeth. This, which is not in her proper biography, is so frequently thought of nowadays when she is considered, that it is here placed first, and before the account of an illusplaces,

and withal a glorious career. was the daughter of one of the basest Kings who have lived, Henry VIII of England. He married Isabella’s daughter, Catherine of Aragon, and, growing

trious

Elizabeth

apprehensive of his soul’s safety, divorced her that he

might wed Anne Boleyn, the mother of Elizabeth he cut Anne’s head off that he might be a widower and marry Jane Seymour; he lost Jane Seymour (mother of Ed;

198

ELIZABETH

1

ward) by death, wedded Anne of Cleves

99

January to

in

divorce her in July, in order that he might join with

Catherine Howard, and cut off her poor head

when Cath-

had caught his royal eye. Thus, Elizabeth’s was Bluebeard himself. As Frederick the Great grew to be proud of the father who had come within a few minutes of cutting off Frederick’s head, so Elizabeth was cast in a mould to be proud of her father. We shall thereerine Parr

father

fore naturally find a deep-seated dissimulation in her character.

Yet, while she

was a

miser, she

was not

so

much of

a hypocrite as her father.

Although

impossible to summarize the career of

it is

Catherine de’ Medici, her contemporary,

not

it is

to point to the salient facts of Elizabeth’s life

a stormy girlhood

:

difficult

She had

she ascended the throne at 25 she supported the French Huguenots and got Mary Stuart ;

;

of Scotland in her power; she was excommunicated by the Pope, as her father had been; she Philip II of Spain

1

erine de’ Medici’s youngest son, the

gon), and was courted by the

crown of the

was courted by

she came very near to marrying Cath-

;

Low

Henry

Duke of Anjou

(

Alen-

II; she twice refused

Countries, but sent

them troops

to

Spain she was long and seriously threatened

fight against

;

by assassins she executed Mary Stuart she escaped the ;

Invincible

was all

;

Armada

of Spain; she hated the Guises; she

deserted, in a sense,

to her

;

by Henry of Navarre, who owed

she loved Leicester

;

she loved Essex, sent him

to quiet Ireland, recalled him, killed him, grieved over

him, sank into deep melancholy, and died, reigning fortyfive

years without a husband, and exhibiting

tricities.

many

eccen-

She was nearly always a popular Queen with

the conservative Protestants, as Isabella had been with the Catholics, and perhaps took Isabella for a model.

probably

felt that

She

Ferdinand had obscured and thwarted

FAMOUS WOMEN

200

the best purposes of Isabella, so she herself

was chary of

inviting a consort to ascend the steps of the English throne.

Elizabeth, daughter of

was born

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn,

at the royal palace, Greenwich,

September

7,

1533.

The

on the Thames, Eu-

country, compared with

A noble lord paid $8 a Erasmus, the great scholar and bookmaker, visited England and attributed the frequent rope,

was extremely

barbaric.

year rent for his house.

plagues to the low habits of the people.

he writes, “are commonly of under which

lies

clay,

‘The

floors,”

strewed with rushes,

unmolested an ancient collection of beer,

grease, fragments, bones, spittle, excrements of dogs

and

and everything that is nasty.” Erasmus was a very and probably a harsh critic. Holingshed, the chronicler, says there were no' chimneys to the houses; the fire was kindled against the wall, and the smoke escaped as it now does in Esquimau huts the houses were of watling (braided twigs) plastered with clay; the people slept on straw pallets, and had a log for pillow; furniture and utensils were nearly all of wood. People But “the religion” had taught the ate with their fingers. believers to read the Bible in English for themselves, and thus the spread of education was no longer impeded. The inhabitants learned European civilization with surprising rapidity in the sixteenth century, as the Japanese have done in the nineteenth century. Probably Elizabeth owned the first silk stockings that came to England, and a handsome pair of these are preserved in the Gunther cats,

sensitive invalid,

;

collection at Chicago'.

was not three years old when her mother was condemned to be “burnt or beheaded,” as should be determined by the King, and Anne Boleyn was beheaded. An act was passed declaring Mary, daughter of Catherine Elizabeth

QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND (The Ermine Portrait) Painting by Zucchero, Hatfield House

WliJP WJMUI

I

:

ELIZABETH

201

Aragon and Elizabeth, daughter of Anne, both illegitiThen a son Edward was born to Jane Seymour, mate. the third wife, and the King fixed the succession in Ed-

of

ward, Edward’s

issue,

if

any, next Mary, and lastly

Edward succeeded

Elizabeth.

the Sixth,

as

and the

education of Elizabeth progressed under various tutors.

Her

later

triumphs as a scholar are thus enthusiastically

Camden: “She had a happy memory, and was indefatigably given to the study of learning, insomuch that as before she was iy years of age she understood well the Latin, French, and Italian tongues, and had an indifferent knowledge of Greek. Neither did she neglect music, so far as became a princess, being able to sing sweetly and play handsomely on the lute. She read described by

over Melanchthon’s Commonplaces,

all

Cicero, a great

part of the histories of Livy, certain select orations of

two into Latin from the Greek) Sophand the New Testament in Greek, by which means she framed her tongue to a pure and elegant way of speaking, and informed her mind with apt documents and instructions, daily applying herself bo the study of good letters, not for pomp and ostentation, but in order Insomuch to use in her life and the practice of. virtue. that she was a kind of miracle and admiration for her Isocrates (turning ocles’ tragedies,

among the princes of her time.” Anne Boleyn had held out the baby princess Elizabeth imploringly to Henry VIII and his terrible frown was the only thing the infant eyes rested on. The little child was learning

sent to one of the King’s houses at

Hunsdon,

thirty miles

north of London, with a governess, Lady Bryan, a rela-

Anne. Lady Bryan wrote, begging for clothing “She (Elizabeth) hath neither gown nor kirtle, nor petticoat, nor no manner of linen, nor forsmocks (aprons), nor kerchiefs, nor rails, nor body stitchets, nor handker-

tive of

FAMOUS WOMEN

202

( hoods ).” were cutting with much trouble. “They come very slowly forth, which causeth me to suffer Her Grace to- have her will more than I would.” After that Lady Bryan hoped to so control the child that the King’s Grace should have great comfort in Her Grace.” Yet it was “a promising and gentle

chiefs,

nor

The Lady

sleeves,

nor mufflers, nor biggens

Elizabeth’s large teeth

child.”

When

Prince

Edward was

baptized,

Mary, seventeen

years older than Elizabeth, held the infant in her arms,

and also led the 4-year Elizabeth to the font. Elizabeth and Edward, both motherless, played together, and were brought up alike, and ever remained friends. When their father died both shed tears, and Edward was King, though Mary ought to have been Queen. The studies to which we have referred were carried forward systematically under William Grindal. Elizabeth translated a small book of prayers into Latin, French, and Italian. This MS., dedicated to her father, is in the Royal Library at Westminster. Grindal died of the plague.

When

Elizabeth was 17 the young King, who' loved made her a present of Hatfield house,

her like a brother,

now

Lord Salisbury. Here she had a retinue of servants and was a great Princess. Grindal had looked up to Roger Ascham at Cambridge;

north of London,

now

the seat of

Elizabeth sent to the University for

Ascham him-

self, and he resigned a professorship to become her tutor. Under his hands she became known as the most learned young woman in Europe, and Ascham’s book, “The

Schoolmaster,” vaunts her acquirements as the result of his patient is

and slow system of

instruction.

At Oxford

a copy, in her hand-writing, of St. Paul’s Epistles, with

the binding ornamented by designs in her

own

hand, and

ELIZABETH her thoughts written in Latin.

203

Her

was

script

clear

and

admirable.

Her household was

and

called at 6,

all its

members,

perhaps sixty persons, high and low, repaired to the chapel,

where prayers were sat

down

said.

to breakfast.

At 7 the Princess and her ladies Before each plate was a pewter

On

pot of beer and another of wine.

fast days, salt fish

was served; on other days a joint with bread. Coffee, and chocolate were unheard of. Cabbages and turnips furnished the main supply of vegetables. There were no potatoes. It is probable that in houses like this there were chimneys, for the conservatives already bewailed tea,

the prevailing luxury. said,

“When we

“we had oaken men; now we

built of willow,” they

build of oak, our

are willow, or altogether of straw, which tion.”

The smoke had hardened

is

men

a sore altera-

the race;

now

people

caught colds.

On

the death of her generous brother Edward, Eliza-

beth showed her good will

to>

Mary by coming

coronation at the head of 500 horse.

to the

Dudley, Earl of

Lady Jane Grey, granddaughter of the second sister of Henry VIII, and offered Elizabeth a large indemnity in money to reThe resign her rights as heir, but Elizabeth refused. bellion of Lady Jane Grey’s people followed, and Mary Northumberland,

set

up the royal

title

of

little

became wholly estranged from Elizabeth, going so as to declare her birth illegitimate.

the other

Romish

far

Cardinal Pole and

advisers of Mary, counseled the de-

struction of Elizabeth, probably

on account of her repute

the terrible Philip II of Spain, and, while

Mary married we would sup-

pose this had ended Elizabeth at once,

was the cause

as a learned disciple of the Reformation.

it

of her deliverance, for Philip saved her, fearing

might

die,

Mary

and hoping to have Elizabeth also to marry.

FAMOUS WOMEN

204

Elizabeth obtained leave to live at her house, but

Mary

two officers to have her in charge. On the insurrecWyatt against the Spanish marriage, Elizabeth was suspected of complicity. Mary sent for her to come Members of the Elizabeth pleaded illness. to court. They presented Privy Council were sent to fetch her. sent

tion of

themselves to her at her bedside at io o’clock in the night.

She protested her

loyalty to her sister,

She

to witness her oaths of fealty.

and

on them to them to

called

left it

judge that she was certainly ill, but they replied that their orders were strict to bring her in the Queen’s litter. A physician certified that it might be done without danger to her

was so

and she went to London next morning.

life, ill,

She

however, that she rested four nights in a jour-

—

ney of only 29 miles nowadays only an hour’s ride out of London. Her household wept at her departure, and Protestants along the road

mourned

for her as one already

dead, so surely did they believe “Bloody

Mary” would

kill

her.

Elizabeth was detained at Whitehall and severely ques-

When

tioned by the Privy Council.

it

was rumored

Hampton Court. From thence a barge took her to the Tower of London, where it is likely she had been sent on the way to the block. She entered the Tower Palm Sunday, 1554,

Wyatt had

with

implicated her, she

was

sent to

and servants, and no great humiliation was “Here landeth,” said she, “as true a subbeing a prisoner, as ever landed at these stairs, and officers

put upon her. ject,

before Thee,

O God, I can speak

it,

having no other friend

but Thee alone!”

Wyatt died

declaring Elizabeth innocent.

Mary

or-

dered mass said in Elizabeth’s apartments, and Elizabeth

made no

objection.

At

last,

Elizabeth was given over to

Philip,

two

having advised

trustees,

it,

They took her

;

;

:

ELIZABETH

205

Richmond Palace, where she was offered a marriage Duke of Savoy. She was, by this time, pretty

to

with the

sure of escape from death, for she refused the alliance.

She was then taken to Ricot, in Oxfordshire, and thence where she was kept under a strong military guard. Considering the extreme danger of civil war when the religious persecutions that Mary had set out on, the treatment of Elizabeth by Mary reflects honor upon to Woodstock,

hef sisterly feelings.

As may be judged when we come to Elizabeth’s conMary Stuart, Elizabeth skillfully kept out of the way of religious persecution. Mary sent to her to duct toward

ascertain her opinion whether or not Christ

Her answer was

present in the sacrament. “

was the word that spake took the bread and brake it

Christ

He

And what That

The reason

I

the

believe

word did make and take

France acquired England

it

it

it.”

Mary was because the Mary Stuart, their niece, and

also,

Spain would be in great

Catholic or heretic, therefore, Philip wanted to

danger.

see Elizabeth set

really

Philip favored

Guises controlled Scotland in if

was

in verse

up bold

husband’s

Queen rather than Mary Stuart, who already Mary of England was hurt by her

claims.

fidelity to statecraft rather

than to religion, and

she died shortly after setting Elizabeth free.

When

her approaching death was announced to Par-

liament there were cries from both houses

:

“Long

live

17, 1558,

and

Queen Elizabeth!” Elizabeth ascended the throne the Protestants,

who had

November

suffered so

many terrors under The temper of Eng-

Bloody Mary, were wild with joy. which now desired to make progress

land,

the arts,

was unquestionably

in line

in learning

with Elizabeth’s

and feel-

FAMOUS WOMEN

206

The

ings.

people not only indorsed her religious views,

but were proud of her attainments.

She was one of the

of sovereigns to feel safe without a learned priest in

first

her council chamber.

Bishop Aylmer says

“She picked

:

out such councilors to serve her as were neither of com-

mon

wit nor

common

in foreign countries,

and

experience of ;

some by

whom some by travel

learning,

like authority in other rulers’ days,

either

one way or other, for their

they had received at God’s hands several of Mary’s advisers.

marry her

—

priests.

made

Yet she kept

Philip II at once offered to

his deceased wife’s sister.

Cecil she

and graces which

—were men meet to be

None were

called to such rooms.”

hope.

gifts

some by practice some by affliction

She led him to She recalled

Secretary of State.

Protestant exiles, and opened the prisons to the martyrs

who

still

time

A clever

lived.

when

saying

is

imputed to her

at the

the right of the people to read the Bible in

English was a matter of

life

and death.

One

Rainsford,

petition

some prisoners, said he had a from other prisoners Matthew, Mark, Luke and

John.

“Consult

receiving the pardon of

—

Queen, “and see

The

if

those

prisoners

they desire

yourself,”

said

the

all this liberty.”

Bishops, alarmed by her inclination toward the

Reformation, refused to anoint her, and that ceremony was arranged with difficulty. She ordered the Lord’s prayer, the ten

commandments, the

creed, the litany, the

gospels and epistles to be read from the pulpits in English,

and inhibited the elevation of the host in her presence. In many matters, however, she conformed to the Romish ritual, so that

her real view was to seek public order rather

than to sow the seeds of further controversy.

She com-

manded

“heretic,”

the people to lay aside the terms

“schismatic,” “papist,” and to refrain from terms of re-

proach and provoking distinctions,

There must not be

ELIZABETH

207

unlawful worship and superstition, neither must there be a contempt for holy things.

formed

— Romanists,

Three

who thought

because they could not persecute

who

ple,

religious parties thus

;

they were persecuted Church of England peo-

followed Elizabeth in the expedient or opportune

course; Puritans,

who

desired to persecute the Romanists

for vengeance, or at least for even justice. tled

New England

;

The Lutherans were strong

in

Germany and

lands; the Genevese doctrines of Calvin

France, and

Huguenots

Puritans

set-

Romanists came with Lord Baltimore.

we have

the Nether-

had spread

into

dwelt on the advancement of the

our review of the career of Catherine de’ Elizabeth now began her lifelong task of inspir-

Medici.

in

ing these rebellious movements against the power of

Rome.

Hardly one of the northern and western schisms could have survived but for her money and soldiers, and this was by far her greatest achievement. We have seen, on previous pages, that Mary Stuart married Francis II of France. signed themselves land as well.

The twain

of France

King and Queen of England and ScotFrancis died, Catherine was glad to

When

Mary back

where the Scotch Presbyterians rose against her, and soon she was accused of Darnley’s murder, and became a prisoner, held by her rebellious subjects. Elizabeth arrogated the rights of an get

arbiter, finally

to Scotland,

and so mixed

in

with the Scottish troubles that she

secured the person of Mary,

who was now

legal

heir to the English throne in the event of Elizabeth leaving

no

issue.

The Commons bore very

of a Protestant successor,

heavily on the need

and probably touching the

eccentric notes in the character of “the great Eliza,” she

became stubborn on this point, and vowed she would die a maid. She did not decree against Mary as her successor, nor would she admit Mary’s rights. Meanwhile,

208

FAMOUS WOMEN

that unfortunate

and ambitious woman was

in custody

no less than eighteen years. Her son James, by Darnley, had escaped from Elizabeth’s clutches, and eventually, a regency, reigned in Scotland (and England). There he ruled over clans of Scotch Puritans who acknowledged but little authority. after

It

may

be that Catherine de’ Medici took part in the

on which the Catholics now set out to destroy their enemies, the Protestants. Pope Pius V issued a bull denouncing the Queen of England as a depraved vast plan

woman, depriving her of

the rights of sovereignty, ab-

solving her subjects from their allegiance, excommunicat-

ing her, and pronouncing '

all

persons

who

should abet her

excommunicated and accursed. Mary, Queen of Scots, was to be Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. The Pope sent Ridolfi, an emissary, disguised as a merchant, to operate to this end in England, and he confederated a

great

many nobles, with Norfolk at their head,

promised the hand of Mary,

if

to

whom he

the plot should succeed.

Meanwhile the Huguenots were lured to Paris, and the Duke of Anjou (Catherine de’ Medici’s son) urged his suit for Elizabeth’s hand. Norfolk’s conspiracy was disclosed, he was put in the tower, and after an insurrection of Mary’s people in the north of England had been put down, about a thousand people were executed. Elizabeth set Norfolk free. Her advance on the Catholics and the Pope was now rapid. Laws were passed that made the importation of Catholic ecclesiastical furniture and utensils impossible, and rendered the person of the Queen

more

There came a feeling over the Protestants that it was a matter of life and death between Elizabeth on the throne and Mary in the prison, which, after all, had long been an English way of looking at the relations of a monarch with his victim. To the Pope, Elizabeth secure.

PlNX

FERRIS,

ELIZABETH

209

by sending Sir Walter Raleigh and 100 picked gentlemen to fight in Navarre and by lending money to replied

Jeanne of Albret, Henry of Navarre’s mother. The Duke of Alva now went from Spain to the Low Countries to

and depopulate. Elizabeth seized his seas, and he made reprisals. Alva, Northumberland, Norfolk (now free) and Ridolfi again plotted for the assassination of Elizabeth, the plot was discovered, and Norfolk and Northumberland were executed, though Elizabeth affected to accede to Norfolk’s sentence with reluctance. Elizabeth sent a communication to Mary, in prison, charging her with assuming the arms of England, intending to marry Norfolk without the Elizabethan consent, practising with Ridolfi to engage the

devastate,

slay,

treasure on the

King of Spain bull of

to invade England, procuring the Pope’s

excommunication, and allowing herself to be called

Queen of England.

Parliament applied for the

trial

and

execution of Mary.

News

of St. Bartholomew’s massacre horrified the

Protestant

Fenelon,

world.

come

to

advanced into a

When

the

French

Ambassador,

the facts officially to Elizabeth, he

tell

through ranks of

hall of black cloth,

ladies dressed in black

and weeping.

The Queen

listened

and even

to his pacific utterances, dissembling her wrath,

allowed negotiations to open for her marriage with the

younger of Catherine second

de’ Medici’s sons, for those

(afterward Henry II)

had

failed.

with the

Although

Elizabeth had refused to accept the proffered

title

of

Queen of the Netherlands from the Dutch, when she found that

Don John

of Austria,

Philip’s

natural

brother,

thought to conquer Holland and espouse Mary Stuart, she accepted the protectorate of Holland and sent money

and troops

to the relief of the victims of Philip’s oppres-

sion, still representing to Philip that in this Voi,. 5

— 14

way

she kept

FAMOUS WOMEN

210

the Hollanders from joining with France against Spain.

Meanwhile (1581) the most

spirited of Elizabeth’s royal

matrimonial affairs or negotiations went forward with Catherine de’ Medici’s agents. She was 25 years older than the young Valois, but her interest in the Duke of Alen^on,

now Duke

of Anjou,

was so great

that Leicester,

her acknowledged favorite, grew jealous of Simier, Cath-

Simier thereon told Elizabeth that

emissary.

erine’s

Leicester

was

Leicester undertook the

secretly married.

assassination of Simier, and while Simier and the

Queen

rowed

person

in

a barge, Simier descanting on the

fine

young Duke, a shot, fired from the bank of the Elizabeth punRiver, wounded a bargeman. ished nobody for this crime. The marriage was agreed on. The French Prince came and saw his intended bride of 49. The English looked on with wry faces. The Queen made him a present of 100,000 crowns, and he raised an army and took the field against the Spanish. The States exalted him to be Governor, and he returned to England. The Queen publicly put a ring on his finger. of the

Thames

Bonfires were built in Holland. A Puritan wrote a book “The Gulf in which England will be swallowed by the French Marriage.” Elizabeth cut off the hand he wrote it with. He waved his other hand and cried, “God save the Queen.” All the cronies of Elizabeth and all her ministers Elizabeth thought it over, fiercely opposed this match. retreated, and the French Prince, cursing women and

—

islanders,

went back

Dutch, and soon died.

Queen ever came

to

Holland,

This

is

by

all

quarreled

with the

odds the nearest the

to getting married.

Elizabeth pursued her studies

all

her

life,

and we

find

her at this age translating Plutarch, Boethius. Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus.

A

Polish Ambassador addressed her

ELIZABETH in Latin

;

21

I

she being offended, extemporized a good Latin

reply in the irate Elizabethan style.

She had a dry wit that has always been celebrated where canons of taste were not too high. She found particular pleasure in varying the saying that

it

takes

make a man. Eighteen tailors waited on The Queen greeted them a delegation. “Gentle-

nine tailors to

her in

:

She declared she had a regiment of cavalry it neither horse nor man it was recuited of mounted on mares. Her best wit was therefore type which got its merit from the cruelty or sharp-

men, both.” that had in tailors

of that

—

ness of the jest, thus displaying the true parental instincts

had inherited from bluff King Hal. Castelnau, French Ambassador, writes of her: “She has prospered in all her affairs, and continues to do so. Not from possessing great wealth and granting large

that she

donations, for she has always been a great economist, but

without exacting from her subjects in the manner of her predecessors.

Her great

desire has been the repose of her

people hence the nation has become exceedingly rich dur;

But however unusual her ability, she has never undertaken great affairs on her own judgment, but ing her reign.

has always conferred with her council.

Careful to keep

out of wars, she has thrown them on her neighbors rather

than drawn them on herself.

She has been unjustly taxed

with avarice because she has refused to be free with her gifts.”

For more than twenty years she had been on the throne. Her arrogations of power had been rapid and constant. The Lords and Commons, sitting in Parliament, strove within themselves to learn her

will,

and to

appear to freely register in advance what she should wish. The Reformation had already split England, and while Elizabeth must protect herself against an angered Pope,

FAMOUS WOMEN

212

she was forced no less to terrify and subdue a large

body of dissenters from her own religious establishment. These dissenters desired the state of things that had come about in Edinburgh, which will be noted anon. The act of Henry III of France in assassinating the Guises seemed to usher an era of this order of crime, and there followed in time the assassinations of William of Orange, Henry III and Henry IV. These successful enterprises lend interest to the

were made to

kill

many

abortive attempts that

Elizabeth, but one of which will here be

detailed. It will

be important to

in self-preservation, to

know

end the

the need Elizabeth

life

felt,

of her Catholic rival

and prisoner, Mary Stuart, who was now doomed to see her own son a zealous Presbyterian King.

William Parry, a Catholic gentleman, pardoned for probably religious as by this time Elizabeth had become a fairly cruel persecutor, burning or beheading fifty or one hundred people where Isabella had burned ten thousand this Parry went to Milan, and there, consulting with Jesuit priests, concluded to go back to. England and assassinate Elizabeth for the good of the true faith. The papal nuncios, both at Milan and Paris, a capital offense

—

—

—

gave him their encouragement, but, at Paris, some Catholic priests denounced the enterprise as a crime. Parry wrote a letter to the Pope through Cardinal Como, asking the absolution and apostolic benediction, and received a highly favorable reply from the Cardinal.

Still,

Parry thought perhaps he could melt the heart of the Queen, and thereby spare her

life.

Accordingly he went

to London, sought her presence, and exhorted her, as she

valued lics.

life itself, to

He

grant more indulgence to the Catho-

secured a seat in the

Commons, and

there

made

a speech that angered his colleagues, and consigned him

ELIZABETH into custody.

must

die.

He

213

This fully convinced him that the Queen took an accomplice, Nevil. The twain

agreed to shoot the Queen.

But

N evil’s worldly prospects

suddenly changed by the death of a

He

relative.

con-

cluded he could do better than to become a martyr and

and betrayed the

Parry was imprisoned, the Cardinal’s letter was produced, Parry vaunted his criminal designs, and was beheaded. When he had argued with the Queen, he had left his dagger at home, assassin,

for fear his zeal might

The

actual

plot.

overcome him.

murder of the Prince of Orange

time heightened the alarm of the Protestants.

at this

Elizabeth

was now the head and front of the Reformation. Her money and men were in Navarre, at Rochefort, and she sent her lover and favorite, Leicester, to Holland. The States saluted Leicester as Governor, and treated him as a sovereign. But at this the eccentric Queen became jealous of her lover. She was, at all times, prompt to disconcert any attempt to reign in her name.

As

military difficulties thickened, the

think of James, son of

Mary

Queen began

to

Stuart, reigning over the

He was But she desired to delay his marriage. She sent her wisest man, Wotton, to him. Wotton, she secretly told James, was a lightbrained figurehead when she had anything important, she would send word by some wiser man; but Wotton would amuse the King, and dispel some of the descending gloom of Scotch disputation. Wotton, in fact, designed to get quarrelsome Scotch Presbyterians at Edinburgh.

her heir, in the event of Mary’s death.

;

the

person of the King into Elizabeth’s clutches.

He

played his part well, yet he failed even to break up a

Scotch marriage with Denmark, for Elizabeth was bent on forcing James to marry the poor and elderly sister of Henry of Navarre. James got his own choice. The

FAMOUS WOMEN

214

Scotch preachers were bitterly stirred to see the Queen from Denmark anointed, and denounced the ceremony as “Popish.” One Gibson declared James should die childless for

it.

Thus, at the time the plots thickened about Elizabeth’s life, it

may be

seen that Catholics and Episcopalians could

not live together, and Episcopalians and

Presbyterians

more at peace. The position of Mary Stuart was made more unfortunate by her feeling of resent' ment against her son James, who had usurped her throne and overthrown her religion. We are now to enter upon the chapter in which Elizawere but

little

beth killed Mary.

It is the

mood and

habit of the world

always to sympathize with the victim of a more powerful foe,

whatever the circumstances

may

be.

Henry

III is

not forgiven for killing the Guises; Napoleon for killing the

Duke of Enghien

alone,

;

Elizabeth for killing Mary.

was candid; the others were basely

Henry,

hypocritical,

both, however, possibly for sufficient state reasons.

While the Catholic

assassins

were preaching the doc-

was dictated by the Holy Ghost, an association of Protestants formed in England, whose members, anticipating the violent death trine that the Pope’s bull against Elizabeth

of Elizabeth, took oath that not only should her violent

death be frightfully avenged, but no one should reign in

England who could

Now

profit

by the deeds of the Catholics.

a priestly assassin named Ballard, taking the

name

came to England to head an insurrection. He engaged a rich young man named Babington, in Derby, who was introduced to Mary Stuart, by letter, as a friend, and Mary wrote him an epistle of encouragement and esteem. Mary was given over to the keeping of Sir Amias Paulet, who confined her more rigorously, and Babington desisted. Another desperate asof Captain Fortescue,

ELIZABETH

2I 5

sassin, John Savage, was now introduced to Babington, who, inspired by the determination of a daring zealot, of-

fered to join Savage with five others, in killing Elizabeth and rescuing Mary. Babington undertook to free Mary with ioo horse. Meanwhile Walsingham, Elizabeth’s secretary of state, had secured Maud, an apostate Catholic priest, to accompany Ballard to Paris. Gifford, another of the same ilk, was soon let into the plot, and, with singular fatuity, the conspirators gave to Gifford the task of communicating the plans to Mary, to see if they had her

approbation.

Minister Walsingham

now sought

Paulet,

the custodian, desiring leave to allow Gifford, the spy, to

corrupt one of Paulet’s servants, and thus get access to

Mary, but Paulet did not approve so much villainy, even practised on a Catholic captive. A brewer took the letters to Mary. They were thrust through a chink in the wall, and Mary placed answers in the same chink that is, her two secretaries did so. The plotters, to try Gifford, gave blank missives at first; he returned to them genuine answers from Mary, so there remained, in Babington’s mind, no doubt of Gifford’s probity. Mary was now informed of the plan. She replied, in cipher, that the death of Elizabeth was necessary, as a preliminary. These letters, of course, passed through Minister Walsingham’s hands. To one of them he attached, in the same cipher, a request putatively by Mary, to know the names of the conspirators. To this Babington responded, so that Walsingham now held in his fingers all the threads of the conspiracy. Meanwhile, to Walsingham Babington was mak-

when

—

ing extraordinary professions of hostility to Catholics, but

had bought good clothes for Savage, in which he might safely approach the Queen whom he was to strike down. All were easily enmeshed

it

was even known

that he

6

FAMOUS WOMEN

21

when Thus heir, die,

the

time came,

the

Protestant

Mary was a Mary would

be in legally.

peril.

and fourteen were beheaded.* statesmen

saw

Catholic zealot.

be Queen.

All

Means were now

at

the

that

royal

Should Elizabeth would

Protestants

hand

to

kill

her

Elizabeth took no interest in the world after

she should be dead, and delighted in the anxiety of her lords.

She thought

it

tended to protect her

Leicester advised poison for

own

life.

Mary; others thought she

would soon die of her own accord. At last, however, Elizabeth, knowing that she had the entire statecraft of England at her back, advanced savagely on Mary. For eighteen years she had feared and detested this Princess, whose charms of mind and person had also evoked the stern jealousy of the masculine Queen. Mary had not heard that the plot had failed. She was told while on horseback, on a hunt, and never was allowed to return to Paulet’s house, but was conducted onward to Fotheringay Castle in Northampton, where she was to be killed. At Paulet’s, sixty ciphers were discovered, and Mary’s secretaries were arrested. Elizabeth appointed a commission of forty noblemen to try “Mary, late Queen of Scots.” Mary, having no counsel, was at last persuaded to acknowledge this tribunal by answering its questions. It was shown she had instigated her adherents to capture her son, the usurping King, and deliver him to the Spaniard or the Pope. Mary denied that she had counseled the assassination of Elizabeth, but she also denied that she had had any communication whatever with Babington. She laid it all on her two secretaries, who, of course, to escape torture, would swear to anything necessary. She asked that she might confront the two secretaries, but this was not done, as it was not English practice. There were many *See State

Trials, Vol.

I.

ELIZABETH things that conspired to

make

217

seemingly necessary to

it

Mary, and the forty lords, meeting in the infamous Star Chamber at London, sentenced her to death for plot-

kill

ting Elizabeth’s

life,

but specifically stated that this sen-

tence did not derogate from the

King of

Now

Scotland.

and honor of James, had compassed

title

that Elizabeth

the destruction of Mary, the eccentricity of her nature

arose to also

honor before fore the ages,

awaken within her the thoughts of her own How would she herself figure be-

posterity. if

she should violate the rights of hospitality,

kindred, royal majesty, and sex? to

She therefore began

alarm her nearest adherents and favorites by protesta-

tions of clemency,

ing

which might end any moment

Mary Queen, with ax

other foes of the old faith. the Parliament, and that

makand all

in

to slay the forty nobles

Elizabeth, however, called

body of course loudly bewailed

her delay, and she published the finding of Parliament, which was received with public rejoicings. On this Mary’s jailers removed the royal canopy, which had always been accorded to her as a born Queen. The Catholic Kings all protested against the execution, and King James made a dutiful, and it is believed a sincere, attempt to save his

mother, although the people over

whom

he ruled did not

The year 1586 was now closing. When the matter had died down a little, the Queen secretly sent for Davison and told him to privately draw the warsanction his

filial

course.

rant for Mary’s death, so she could have

she sent

it

it

by her; then

signed by her to the Chancellor, to have the

great seal affixed or appended; then, next day, she sent to

Davison

to let the matter rest; but

great seal; Davison

now

it

had passed the

advised the privy council, and

those noblemen, eager for Mary’s death, persuaded Davi-

son to send off the warrant, promising to take the blame,

and probably hoping

to anticipate the

Queen’s

own

wishes.

8

2

FAMOUS WOMEN

1

Mary was February

7,

therefore executed at Fotheringay Castle

1587, in a large hall, on a black scaffold, in

the presence of a great

number of

spectators.

estants did not chop off her head without

The

first

Prot-

insulting

her with long, defamatory sermons, copying the Catholic last days of Joan of Arc. Mary died (aged 45) with a splendid courage and dignity that cast only the greater obloquy on the hypocritical sorrow that

examples in the

Elizabeth

now

affected to show.

The privy council told Elizabeth that Mary had perished. Her countenance changed through her deep paint; her speech faltered; she stood stock

still;

she burst forth

into loud wailings and lamentations; she got into deep mourning and poured out a flood of tears from eyes that usually were dry she stayed among her women and chased her counsellors with fury and imprecations if they came near to her. She wrote a letter to appease James which should stand as an example of all that can be accomplished by feminine art in the line of falsehood and dissimulation. At last she cast Davison in jail, and fined him $50,000, which was all he had, and this impoverished him. By these arts, and others equally base, she escaped war with James, who, on his own account, was but poorly prepared for it, for he had not been able to even make his bitterspirited pastors pray for poor Mary, his mother. Just before her death, in order to pay a decent respect to his unfortunate parent, even in his own kirk, he had desired ;

a friendly prelate to

officiate.

found an interloping preacher,

Arriving in his pew, he

who

intended to hold the

The King asked the preacher come down, and had to send the captain of the guard to hale him out. When the irate divine was put out by force he called down a woe on Edinburgh for not letting pulpit against all comers.

to

ELIZABETH him to

insult

end

Queen Mary

in her

219

in her misfortunes,

now

so soon

murder.

Meanwhile English mariners, pirates, and captains had preyed well on Spanish commerce, at home and in America, and Philip prepared the Invincible Armada for a descent on the shores of Albion. The Armada sailed in a crescent about seven miles

broad between

Spanish and Italian writers, of course, limest flights,

in describing

it.

its tips.

The

rise to their sub-

Bentivoglio says that

though the ships advanced with every sail, the lofty masts, the swelling sheets, the towering prows came on with slow motion, “as if the ocean groaned with supporting, and the winds were tired with impelling a weight so enormous.”

The conduct

of the

Queen

in this reign of terror

was as

brave as was the attitude of Isabella in urgent danger. Elizabeth gathered 23,000 soldiers at Tilbury.

Before

them she appeared, mounted on a charger, with a general’s truncheon in her hand, a corselet of steel laced on over her Queen’s apparel, a page bearing her white plumed helmet, and thus she rode, bare-headed, from rank to rank, evoking affectionate plaudits and inspiring military ardor. “Let tyrants fear. I am She made an eloquent speech come among you at this time being resolved in the heart of the battle to live and die among you all. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a King, and a King of England, I myself will be your general, judge, and re warder too. :

of virtue in the field.”

May

many The English Admiral was Lord Effingham. The Armada anThe Armada

mishaps

it

left

Lisbon

29, 1588; after

arrived in the English channel July 19.

chored at Calais; Effingham sent in fire-ships and scattered the enemy, the Armada sailing northward, let it be noted, to

go around Scotland and

Ireland.

At

the Ork-

FAMOUS WOMEN

220

neys the Arctic storms befell the Spaniards, others came

and not over half the ships got back to Spain. England and Scotland again resounded with the merrymaking of the Protestants, and Philip the Spaniard laid the blame on those Moors who had escaped Isabella’s persecution by dissimulation. At Tilbury Elizabeth became truly great, as she was always shrewd, discerning, tactful, and imperious. In 1589 Henry of Navarre came to the French throne as heir, and Elizabeth sent him the largest sum of money he had ever seen something over $100,000 and 4,000 men. One of her merchants, Whyte, captured a Spanish galleon with two million bulls from Rome granting indulgences. These the King of Spain had bought of the Pope for 300,000 florins, with the expectation of selling them in the Indies for 500,000,000 florins. Henry of Navarre found it to be politic to publicly embrace the Catholic religion, and thus, while he did not break with England, he weakened the Protestant power in Europe and saved off Ireland,

—

—

France to the old church. land,

and died

Leicester never did well in Hol-

—always a minister who had

flourished be-

cause of his personal influence over the capricious Queen,

and not because of

James of Scotland needed aid, but Elizabeth refused it, and even acted with bad faith, protecting his seditious nobles. By sea, all went well, and a new man, Essex, came on the scene, who will figure most prominently to the end. It was his desire that Britannia should sweep the seas, and his advice accorded For well with the successful sovereign’s private views. his abilities.

seven or eight years after the record of interest.

Armada

there

is little to

Elizabeth tightened her grasp on the

scepter of supreme power, and passed rigorous measures

of

all

kinds, scolding her Parliaments with an increasing

ELIZABETH acerbity of tongue, and eliciting a

221

growing

desire to obey

her subserviently.

was Elizabeth’s fashion to quarrel oftenest with So with young Essex. He turned his back on her in anger. She advanced on him with imprecations and boxed him on the ear. He clapped his hand on his sword and ran away. No one could make him apologize, and he even wrote a letter, declaring he had received a mortal affront. This, which would have ruined anyone else, did Essex no harm, and he was reinstated It

those she loved best.

in the

Queen’s favor.

She was now 65 years old. Philip II, her great enemy, was dead. Burleigh, her chief statesman or friend, was dead. Her vanity and eccentricity grew. She had 3,000 gowns in her wardrobe. A Dutch delegation came to see her. A handsome young Dutchman in the retinue descanted on her beauty to an Englishman, looking with admiring eyes on the Queen. Meanwhile the heavy Dutch burghers were making their big speeches. Instantly after the audience, she called the Englishman and made him translate the remarks. These were in the highest degree flattering. The Queen made each ambassador a present of a chain of 800 crowns, and to the gentlemen of the retinue she gave a chain of 100 crowns; but to the bold young attendant who had praised her so impudently she gave a chain of 1,600 crowns double that of the ambassadors -and he wore it about his neck to the end of his life. This shows not only that Elizabeth was easily flat-

—

—

tered, but that flattery profited this

Dutchman

to the end

of his days.

On

the other hand, a

young

wit, Buzenwall,

mimicked

Elizabeth’s bad French at a banquet in Paris, and an Englishman who was present did not resent it. Both these men, afterward, were appointed to her court, but her re-

FAMOUS WOMEN

222

sentment had not abated with years, and she would receive neither. selves

and

“Thus,” says

their master,

Du

Henry

Maurier, “they did them-

of Navarre, a great injury,

which proves that the great are always with respect.”

It is

to be spoken of

generally said of Elizabeth that she

was a patron of learning only so far as it would advance her own studies, and that she desired to shine as the most beautiful and most cultured person of either sex on the islands.

Young Essex had

returned with glory from Cadiz.

was jealous of others, and very ambitious.

He

A rebellion broke

out in Ireland, and both Essex’s friends and his enemies

wanted Essex to go and put it down. His enemies knew haughty manners, at a distance, would arouse the anger of the old Queen, who now doted on him. Elizabeth readily gave him regal powers andsenthim off with a good army. The campaign went badly. Elizabeth became furious, and promoted Cecil, Essex’s rival, at London. She ordered Essex to stay in Ireland, but he, knowing her character, made all haste to London, rushed into court “besmeared with dirt and sweat,” made his way madly to the presence-chamber, on to the privy chamber, and even thence to the Queen’s bedchamber, where Elizabeth was newly risen and sitting with her hair about her face. He threw himself on his knees, kissed her hand, and evidently begged her favor, which he received, as he went out thanking God. But Elizabeth, on thinking it over, found her impatience rising once more, for Essex had disobeyed her time and again. She therefore received him coldly in the afternoon, and he, believing his rival triumphant, took sick and seemed to be dying. On this, to the intense alarm of Raleigh and Cecil, enemies of Essex, the Queen showed distress, and ordered eight of the best physicians of the realm to attend him. She sent him that his

ELIZABETH

223

and a sweet message. He got well, and the Queen whole episode had been skillfully arranged to work upon her feelings. She sent another captain to Ireland, Mount joy, who conquered. She tried Essex in the privy council. The court gave him a light sentence, leaving him in custody. The people, however, believing that the Queen had been falsely set against Essex, continued to pay him high honor, and Elizabeth was far from liking popularity in her subjects. Essex played a part of deep submission. His dignities had been taken away, and still he wrote the most humble letters. Now the Queen refused to> grant anew his monopoly of the broth,

was

told that the

He

sweet wines. bellion.

He

at last, in utter despair, meditated a re-

openly declared “the old

crooked in mind as in body.”

He

woman was

as

plotted a rebellion of

Puritans, corresponded with James, and in other ways enmeshed himself thoroughly in the net which his adversaries and the Queen spread for him. At last he even entered London, cried aloud that England was sold to the Spanish Infanta, and exhorted the crowd to follow him. He then retired ingloriously to Essex House and surrendered without defense. He was tried for high treason before a jury of twenty-five peers, and sentenced to death. Of course, the attendants of the Queen, warned by Davison’s fate at the time of Mary’s death, viewed the proceedings and orders of the Queen, in signing the deathwarrant, with extreme caution. She signed and recalled at pleasure, until finally she ordered the execution, which took place, the young man Essex dying with piety and

submission.

The war

in Ireland, with a Spanish invasion there,

went on, and Mount joy brought it to an end that reflected honor on British arms. Henry of Navarre was reconciled to James’ coming succession on the English throne.

FAMOUS WOMEN

224

But these matters gave Elizabeth no peace. She lay, in upon a splendid carpet, much after the manner depicted in the great painting by Paul Delaroche, “The Death of Queen Elizabeth,” now in the Louvre, at Paris, and gradually faded away in a deep melancholy. Du Maurier says that Prince Maurice had the story direct from Carleton, secretary of state, that once, when Essex was going to Cadiz, he complained how easy it would be for his rivals to undo him in the Queen’s favor. On this Elizabeth put a ring on his finger and promised him, with oath, that if he would send it to her, whatever his peril might be, she would restore him to favor. Essex kept this gift to the last extremity, and, when he was under sentence of death, sent the ring to the Countess of Nottingham, begging she would carry it to the Queen. But the husband of the Countess was desirous that Essex should die, and commanded his wife not to do it. Afterward the Countess fell mortally ill, and sent for the Queen on a matter of grave importance. To the Queen the dying woman privately gave the ring of Essex, explaining that she had not dared sooner to do it. The Queen, seeing the ring, burst into a furious passion. She shook the dying Countess in her bed. She cried out repeatedly “God may pardon you, but I never can !” She returned to the bedchamber and took to the carpet, refusing to go to bed. She gave vent to constant groans, and would not take rich dress,

:

Ten or

food or medicine.

fifteen

the consternation of her household,

one could die of

grief,

days she lay thus, to

who

could not believe

and she had no disease that the was she due to die of old age.

doctors could name, nor

Yet she grew more to

know

feeble.

At

last the

privy council sent

her will about the succession.

She answered,

with a feeble voice, that she had held a regal scepter, she desired no other than a royal successor.

But

Cecil

ELIZABETH

225

more querulously King to succeed her.

desired a clearer mandate, whereat she

explained that she would have a Therefore,

who

could that be other than her nearest kins-

man, the King of Scots? Her voice soon left her, her senses failed, she seemed to sleep, and after some hours of lethargy she was dead. She was 70 years old and had reigned nearly 45 years. It was toward evening of March 24, 1603.

So

far in our

Isabella.

volume she can be compared only with

The two women both founded

the one by arms, the other by statecraft.

great empires,

Britain outlasted

Spain, perhaps, because Isabella allowed too

much im-

portance to be given to Church organization, over which a foreign potentate held sway.

Elizabeth was possibly the

greater blessing to her people, but Isabella,

it

seems to

us,

—beauyet not vain; charming yet not coquettish —the ad-

was incomparably tiful,

the greater and nobler

woman

mirer of Ximenes, where Elizabeth chose Hatton, Leices-

was a mother ElizaIsabella would have filled the world with monks and convents; Elizabeth had too much good English common sense to do that, and, except when her womanly vanity turned her head, she acted like the greatest of statesmen, and is one of the few monarchs or commanders who have desired the weight of counter

and Essex,

beth

sel

knew but

inferior men.

Isabella

the single side of

;

life.

and followed a majority of her ministers rather than emotion or the whisperings of affec-

trust to the voices of tion. It

is

the custom of the English-speaking races to

praise her without stint

obtrudes upon the erally

condemned.

field

till

the subject of

of thought.

Then

Mary she

is

Stuart as gen-

But the death of Essex gave her more

concern than the tragedy at Fotheringay Castle.

Protest-

ant historians, of the time and long after, in grateful Voi,.

5—15

mem-

FAMOUS WOMEN

226

ory of her steadfast battle with the Pope

who had

insulted

her and planned her death, cover her with panegyric, and their encomiums, coming down to us, color our own views, and tempt us to consider her a saint and Catherine de’ Medici a demon. She did not have so many difficulties In as Catherine, and she enjoyed far greater power. Catherine’s position, the vanity of Elizabeth might have overwhelmed her. Yet, again, if Isabella had lived fifteen

years longer,

age in olic

it is

not impossible that the

woman might have

frailties

of old

revealed themselves in the Cath-

Queen as they did in the eccentric English sovereign. Yet, looking upon her from all sides, after reading the

most malicious outpourings of her enemies, who were eigners at

war with

her,

it

for-

well behooves the capable his-

torian to say that she did high honor to her sex, and, after Isabella,

again awakened the astonishment and satisfac-

tion of mankind, that a

woman

should rise to the very

highest rank of statesmanship and patriotism.

CHRISTINA A. D. 1626-1689

WHO When

RESIGNED A CROWN

and self-sacrificing Gustavus Adolwounded on the field of Liitzen, where he conducted a knightly war of defense against the Catholics,

phus he

fell

the great

mortally

left as heir to

the throne of Sweden, Christina, a Prin-

This child was destined to arouse the interest and evoke the astonishment of the cess only seven years old.

The

committed the regency to the and Oxenstiern, the chancellor of Gustavus Adolphus, remained at the head of affairs. When Christina was 23 years old peace had been established on a basis that was glorious for Sweden, and Christina had proved herself a diligent scholar, who promised to be a worthy daughter of the noble and valorous King who had died for a principle. Yet she had already exhibited many evidences of eccentricity. She early took to violent exercise, and discovered an invincible repugnance to both the employments and the conversation of women. She invited Descartes, Vossius, Grotius and other famous scholars to her court, and liberally rewarded them out of a treasury that had been sorely taxed by the wars. The jealous Swedes declared that she even made peace, so that she could give more hours to study. “I think world.

stricken nation

chiefs of the five colleges,

I see

“when my secretary enters with Meanwhile she read the lives of Elizaand concluded that Elizabeth did wisely

the devil,” she said,

his dispatches.”

beth and Isabella, to keep free

from a Ferdinand of her own. 227

Like Eliza-

FAMOUS WOMEN

228

beth, Christina loved to study the ancient authors,

and

Polybius and Thucydides were her favorite authors.

As

she was an only

daughter and

Sweden, of course, were kept cessor, as their

own

estates

child, the

statesmen of

in anxiety regarding her suc-

might be swallowed up

in a

war should she die without an heir. All the eligible Princes of Europe offered their hands the Prince of Den-

civil

—

mark, the Elector Palatine, the Elector of Brandenburg, the

King

of Spain, the

King of

the

Romans, Don John King of Poland,

of Austria, Sigismund of Cassovia, the

and John Casimir

above

his brother, and,

all,

her

first

cousin, son of her aunt, her father’s sister, Charles Gus-

who was her devoted While he had been absent in Germany he had obtained permission to correspond with the young Queen, and lost no opportunity to advance his own intertavus, generalissimo of the armies, flatterer

and

lover.

served to conspire with the

ests; indeed, those interests

needs of the

state.

Arckenholtz, the principal biographer

of the Queen, says that the ardent lover declared, in one letters, that, if her Majesty persisted in her refusal marry him, he on his side would decline the honor she proposed for him of reigning after her, and would banish himself forever from Sweden.

of his to

In February, 1650, Christina called her Senate together, announced her unwillingness to marry,

and nom-

inated Charles Gustavus to be her successor on the throne.

To

this the statesmen finally assented,

for the coronation began.

ceremony should take place

that the

at Upsala, but the desire for a

magnificent spectacle carried the superstitious foresaw

and preparations

Custom demanded

evil.

it

to

Stockholm, whereat

Moreover, Christina had

She desired office. and retirement, philosophical tranquillity, and affected an aversion for pomp, power, grandeur, and all

constantly complained of the duties of reflection

CHRISTINA the dress and splendor of a court.

spondence with scholars.

229

She had a wide

She purchased

corre-

Titian’s paint-

make them “She aspired,” says Arcken-

ings at a great price, yet cut the canvases to fit

the panels of her walls.

become the sovereign of the learned; to dictate lyceum as she had done in the Senate.” “Do not force me to marry,” she would say to her ministers, “for, if I should have a son, it is not more probable that he should be an Augustus than a Nero.”

holtz, “to

in the

While she was

at the chapel of the Castle of Stock-

holm, assisting at divine service with the principal lords,

an insane assassin made an attack on her life. He chose the moment in which the assembly was engaged in what

Swedish Church was called an “act of recollection,” performed by each individual, a who knelt and covered the face with the hand. Taking this opportunity, when no one would be looking, he rushed through the crowd and mounted a balustrade within which the Queen was on her knees. The Baron Braki (or Brahe) was alarmed, and cried out; the guards interposed with their pikes, but the assassin got past them, and aimed a blow at the Queen with a knife. The Queen avoided the blow, and pushed the captain of her guards, who threw himself on the assassin, and seized him by the hair. The man was known to be mad, and was locked up. The in the

silent act of devotion,

Queen proceeded with the service, without emotion. At another time, some ships-of-war were finishing Stockholm, and she went to inspect them.

at

As Admiral

Fleming was going on board, across a narrow plank, holding the Queen by the hand, his foot slipped and he fell in the sea, carrying her with him. first

Steinberg, the Queen’s

equerry, threw himself in the water, laid hold of her

robe, and, with assistance, pulled her ashore.

her

lips

were above water, she cried

:

The moment

“Take care of the

FAMOUS WOMEN

230

Admiral !” She was not violently agitated, and dined the same day in public, where she gave a humorous account of her adventure. Christina’s court soon became a veritable academy. There came Saumaise, Paschal, Bochart, Gassendi, Naud£, Heinsius, Meibom, Scuderi, Menage, Lucas, Holstenius,

Lambecius, Bayle (of Bayle’s Dictionary pedia),

Madame

of genius

all

Dacier, and

celebrate her in

many

or

Encyclo-

These people the works which they have others.

more proving that it is profitable for a Prince to patronize the arts. Yet it may be clearly seen that she had enough literary material on hand for a big row, and it came when Saumaise (Salmasius) introleft to

the world, once

duced the adventurer Michon, delot.

He

who

called himself

Bour-

attempted the role of Aristophanes, and made

amusing the Queen. The Count Magnus de la Gardie, son of the Constable of Sweden, was

sport of the scholars, thus

the favorite and lover of Christina, but he aroused her

jealousy because

he revealed a tendency to govern.

Bourdelot, to the great scandal of the Swedes, supplanted

Magnus, and gained such an ascendency over the Queen that public indignation compelled her to banish him. Soon after, she spoke of him with hatred and contempt. But the incident was painful, and awoke some resentment in her mind against the Swedes, who, all along, had detested her associates and regarded them with the aversion usually bestowed on foreigners. Coupled with Christina’s distaste for marriage came a contemplation of the nuns of the Catholic Church. She heard about them when she was but nine years old, and that the unmarried state was held to be meritorious. “Ah,” cried the child, “how fine that is! That shall be my religion!” For such thoughts, of course, she was gravely reprimanded no Catholic could rule in Sweden. Later

—

CHRISTINA on, the

same

*3*

desire revealed itself in her conversation.

She expressed the want of that gratification she would feel if

many

she could believe as “so

noble spirits had be-

lieved for 1,600 years; if she could belong to a faith at-

by millions of martyrs, confirmed by millions of miracles- above all,” she would conclude, showing here her main thought, “which has produced so many admirable virgins, who have risen above the frailties of their sex, and consecrated their lives to God.” With these ideas uppermost in her mind she set out to study religion, and for this purpose was desirous of hearing the most eloquent advocates of each sect and faith. This may have been the ruling cause which brought scholars to the court. The arguments of any one sect tested

—

against

its

adversary she turned back against

itself.

she would compare the acts of Moses with those of

hammed;

Thus

Mo-

she contemplated the thoughts of the ancients,

the gentiles, and the atheists.

She remained a natural believer in the existence of God, and thus returned ever and again to the thought that there must be some way of worshiping Him more becoming than another. At last she began to believe that the eternal safety of the soul was in question.

gan

At

to intrigue,

this stage in her contemplations she be-

it

may

be said, with the Catholic Church.

There was at the court a Portuguese Ambassador who could speak no Swedish; when he came into the royal presence, he was compelled to address the Queen through his confessor, a Jesuit named Father Macedo. While the Ambassador vainly imagined the Queen was talking on Portuguese relations, she was engaged in religious conMacedo. Finally, in this manner, she con-

troversies with fided to

him the astounding

join the Catholic Church.

intelligence that she desired to

On

Christina proposed to pursue

this Macedo disappeared. him with officers. But she

FAMOUS WOMEN

23 2

had secretly dispatched him to the general of the Jesuits at Rome, who was entreated to send to her some of the most trusted members of his order. She received answer that Malines and Casati, two highly trusted fathers, would arrive in Stockholm toward the end of February. While the Queen was at supper, two gentlemen who had traveled complained of the cold, but General Wachmeister rallied them, and said the two Italians on the journey with them had not shown such fear of the cold. The Queen asked if the Italians were musicians; the general said they were two gentlemen traveling to see the country. The Queen said she would by all manner of means like to see them. The next day they were presented to Magnus, the favorite, who at once took them to her majesty. She, on her part, reckoning the time to be ripe for the Jesuits to come, took occasion to secretly say, “Perhaps you have

me !” To this Casati, without turning his head, said yes. “Do not mention them to anyone!” whispered Christina. Later she secretly received the letters. “When

letters for

she

was alone with

us,” says Casati, (writing to Alex-

ander VII afterward and signing himself “the most hum-

and obedient son in Christ of your Holiness, Paolo Company of Jesus”) “her Majesty began to thank us in the most courteous terms for the pains we had taken in making the voyage on her account. She assured us that whatever danger might arise to us from being discovered, we should not fear, since she would not suffer that evil should befall us. She charged us to be secret and not to confide in anyone, pointing out by name some of those to whom she feared we might give our confidence in process of time. She encouraged us to hope that ble

Casati, of the

if

she should receive satisfaction, our journey should not

have been made

The

in vain.”

Jesuits thought to begin with the catechism, but

imsssssi

CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN ^ WlTTT ^ jTTTr T

!>£{{} r

CS'}*

CHRISTINA

2 33

Christina set out on questions of the most recondite nature

—namely, ternal

good and evil, Providence, immortality, exforms and their utility. The Jesuits were some-

what puzzled for arguments to uphold the invocation of the saints, and the veneration of images and saints, but Christina, being the better controvertist, supplied these

missing defences, to the joy of the fathers,

who

at once

decided that she was under the immediate direction of the

Holy Ghost. Some days she would coquette, with them. They would do well to go, she would tell them, she thought she would never be wholly reconciled. This the fathers would attribute to Satan. “What would you say,” she would then ask suddenly, “if I were nearer to becoming a Catholic than you suppose?” “We seemed like men raised from the dead,” says Casati.' Could not the Pope

grant permission to receive the Lord’s supper once a year

according to

Luther’s

The

rite ?

“Then,” said Christina, “there the crown.”

is

no

fathers

help.

I

said

nay.

must resign

The Jesuits departed for Rome, to acquaint the Church its victory over a Queen of the heretics, and to pre-

with

pare for her solemn and triumphant entry into the pale of the true faith.

Macedo

As

early as October, 1651,

the possibility of her abdication.

of at Paris, the literary coterie

It

Christina told her Senate that,

The Senate

had been

having pdsted if

first

talked

off the news.

she resigned, Gustavus,

the heir, her cousin, could secure a riage.

when Father

disappeared, Christina had mentioned officially

more

desirable

mar-

pleaded, and Christina withdrew her

resignation, but with the condition that she should not

Yet Gustavus did not despair of and renewed his court without success. Two years later, the news spread over Sweden that the Queen still meant to abdicate. Because she was the daughter

be pressed to marry.

winning

her,

FAMOUS WOMEN

234

of Gustavus Adolphus, and because her reign had been

very prosperous, a change to the young generalissimo was

Her religious state The Senate met atUpsalaand

regarded with gloomy apprehensions. of

mind was

still

a secret.

responded eloquently to her speech announcing abdication, that

they had expected her promises to continue the

government would have been of longer duration. The Prince, Charles (Karl X), was put under obligations to pay her 200,000 rix-dollars a year, and several provinces were signed over to her to assure her pension. On the 2 1st of May she solemnly fixed on the 24th of June, 1654, as the day when she should cease to be Queen. Her oration drew tears from the eyes of the Senate. The day before the time when she would no more be Queen, she insulted the Portuguese minister-resident, ordering him by private letter to quit Sweden, but the Senate, on learning of her mad act, sent privately to the minister, and told him to be patient, for the Queen’s power would endure but a few days longer, when amends should be made to him. It seems probable that this proceeding was merely a

new

ruse, to shield the

Portuguese people.

June 24, 1654, the

last direct scion of the race of

stood before her Senate.

The aged Count Brahe

Vasa

refused

crown from her head which he had placed there a few years before. He considered the bond between Prince and subject to be indissoluble, and held the proceedings before him to be unlawful. It was in opposition to the will of God, to the common right of nations, and to the oath by which she was bound to the realm of Sweden and to her subjects he was no honest man who had given her Majesty such counsel.* The Queen was on this account compelled to lift the crown from her own head, as this was the only way the aged statesman would re-

to take the

—

* Schlozer’s Schwedische Biographie, article Peter Brahg.

CHRISTINA ceive

it.

With crown and

2 35

scepter laid aside, in a plain

white dress, Christina then received the her estates, or houses.

The

homage the House

last

speaker of

Peasants knelt before her, shook her hand and kissed

of

of it

and thus departed from the adored Gustavus Adolphus. This was

repeatedly, burst into tears,

daughter of his the very

moving sentimental

side of the scene, but the

machinations of the Jesuits were

known

to at least a few,

and the operations of Christina were carefully watched, so that she feared her plans might yet miscarry. A fleet awaited her, but while she intrusted her property to the ships, she did

She

not intend to so intrust her person.

was by this time almost a foe of her country, and the Swedes did well to be careful. The blunt warriors of the Northland had made a

jest of Christina's

her disputes about vortices, innate ideas,

dead languages;

etc.

;

her taste for

medals, statues, pictures; her payments to the makers of books, like Salmasius.

In this

way she had come to despise

her fellow-countrymen as barbarians.

She took every-

thing curious or valuable out of the royal palace, put

on

ship,

and

it

then, giving everybody the slip, set out

by brook

Hamburg. When she came to a little Sweden from Denmark, she got out of her carriage, and, leaping to the other side, cried out “At carriage for

that then separated

:

am

and out of Sweden, whither, I hope, I shall never return.” She dismissed her women and assumed the dress of a man, not an unusual thing to do when traveling in those times. “I would become a man,” she said, “yet I do not love men because they are men, but because they are not women.” She prepared to publicly embrace the ancient faith at Brussels, and solemnly renounced Lutheranism at Innspruck. Her act was the reigning sensation in France. At Brussels she met the great Conde, last I

free,

who made that

city his asylum.

“Cousin,” said she,

“who

FAMOUS WOMEN

236

would have thought, ten years ago, that we should have met at this distance from our countries ?” “How great is the magnanimity of a Princess/’ said he, “who could so easily give up that for which the rest of mankind are continually destroying each other, and pursue throughout their whole lives without attaining.” The venerable Pope Innocent, suspecting that a public reception at Rome would be expensive, saved his money and reserved the honor for his successor, Alexander VII, by suggesting delay. When Alexander invited her, promising his benediction, she hastened toward Rome, and offered her crown and scepter to the Virgin at Loretto.

All the cities of the

Roman

states

gave her a public reception, and the new Pope, whose ambition was gratified by this Catholic triumph over Protestantism, exhausted the apostolic treasury to celebrate with due

solemnity the conversion of the learned daughter of the at

Rome,

she adopted the second

name

great heretic.

It

was

that, in

honor of the Pope,

of Alexandra, which

she

Amazon costume and the vast crowds that Rome turns out were astir with exultation. Triumphal arches, illuminations, feasts, flags, and processions celebrated her act of homage to the Pope. The principal mistake that Christina made, and the one that showed she was insane, was her failure to understand that she had resigned her rule, and was only a private person. We shall see her, to the end of her life, acting as a crowned head, therefore a pretender. She set up an expensive establishment at Rome, began the purchase of antiquities, curios, and paintings, and was soon robbed by servants of all her ready money. Then she pawned her jewels, and all the money so obtained was used or wasted. afterward bore. She rode on horseback in

Contemplating a journey to Paris, she wrote to the Pope, begging that his Holiness would recommend some merchant to lend her money.

The Pope,

rather than to as-

:

CHRISTINA sume

23}

the responsibility of the debts that might accrue, sent

a confidential ecclesiastic with a present of 10,000 scudi,

with certain medals of gold and silver that had been struck

honor of the Queen’s entry, excusing the smallness of the sum by the exhaustion of the treasury. The Queen, in thanking him, wept more than once, both from motives of gratitude and mortification. In 1656 she traveled in France, to Compi£gne, Paris and Fontainebleau, as Queen Christine Alexandrie. The in

learned

men

of Europe

who had

been her guests and pen-

sioners, prepared for her a brilliant reception, at least in

the world of letters, and the tip-toe to see her.

“What makes “Is

it

because

I

She

women

of fashion were on

affected to disdain their

women so fond of me?” am so like a man ?” Upon this

these

turned on her, almost with one accord.

good

will.

she asked. the

They

women

criticised

her high shoulder, her small figure, the negligence of her attire,

and her miserable

retinue.

Italy she visited the celebrated

On

her return toward

Ninon de

l’Enclos at her

who was the only woman in France to whom Christina made any profession of warm esteem. France was conventional, and its women did not approve the

country

seat,

manners or conversation of Christina. When Christina met the poet Scarron and

his wife in

Paris* the following colloquy ensued “I permit you,” Christina said to Scarron, “to love with me.

The Queen

patient; I will create

“You do

you

fall in

of France created you her

my Orlando.”

well to appoint

me your

lover,” he replied,

“for I should have usurped the office.”

The Queen, looking at Madame Scarron (afterward Maintenon) who was pretty— “Nothing less than a Queen could make a man unfaithful to this * See Madame de Maintenon, in this Volume.

lady.

I

am

FAMOUS WOMEN

238

not surprised that, with the most amiable

you

are, in spite of

your

woman

in Paris

man

infirmities, the merriest

in

France.” In the autumn of 1657 she returned to France, establishing her sorry court at Fontainebleau.

Her

arrival

aroused no attention, as her affair was no longer a novelty.

She wrote with eagerness to the heads of the Fronde facon the differences of princes who had been at war a hundred years. She began a course of political intrigue which warned the cabinets that she was likely to become a dangerous visitor in any land. She learned that Louis XIV, then very young, was in love with tion, offering to arbitrate

Mademoiselle de Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin.

She encouraged the affair of the lovers, and offered her services. “ I would fain be your confidante,” said she, “if you love, you must marry.” While she was rude to the court ladies, and gave trouble to the ministry, she was oblivious of public opinion, and still often wore men’s clothes. She seemed to the French like a Russian or barbarian potentate, and soon, to the horror of the court, performed an act of absolute sovereignty at Fontainebleau worthy of the son of Catherine de’ Medici. She had always,

When

when angry,

threatened death to her offenders.

she sent her secretary to Stockholm to see about

her delayed annuity payment, she said

:

“If you

fail in

your duty, not all the power of the King of Sweden shall save your life, .though you take shelter in his very arms.”

A

musician

She wrote, shall

left

in a

her to perform for the

Duke

of Savoy.

high rage, “If he do not sing for me, he

not sing long for anybody.”

Thus she was

likely to

gather about her people of unbridled passions and loose

manners, and the quarrels of her household became the talk of

Rome.

When

she established herself at Fontaine-

bleau she learned that the Master of her Horse, the

Mar-

CHRISTINA

239

had been guilty of a breach of trust. This charge was made by Ludovico, on letters from his brother in Rome. Ludovico was a rival lover of Christina. The accused man was brought before the Queen, and confessed his deeds. She chose to interpret his act as high treason, sentenced him to death, appointed quis Monaldeschi, her favorite,

his rival as his executioner, told

him

to confess his soul to

Father Lebel, and, in the presence of that the equerry

was

slain, his

is

blood staining the walls and

In one of the rooms of the palace

floor of the gallery.

to-day

terrified priest,

an inscription pointing out the place where Mon-

fell. She held that it was beneath her dignity to him before any tribunal, however high it might be.

aldeschi

place

“To acknowledge no more than

to

superior,” she exclaimed, “is worth

govern the whole world.”

ernment, while

it

The French Gov-

made no inquiry into the murder, ordered

her out of France, but she did not at once obey even this order, returning to

Rome

in the spring of 1658.

She had hopes of being

elected

Queen of Poland, where

she could reign as a Catholic, but failed in the negotiations.

The Swedes

neglected the payment of her annuity,

noL

withstanding the extreme care with which she had provided for her financial future before abdication.

though she was by

this

she was forced to accept from

1,200 scudi.

In 1660,

Gustavus (Karl

And

time quarreling with the Pope,

when

X) ended

him an annuity of only

the short reign of Charles

in his death, she hastened to

Stockholm to claim the throne, for several reasons, the main ones being pecuniary. But the throne belonged to the son of Charles, Charles XI, a minor.

Christina

was

and the Swedes had been horrified by the license and vulgarity of her career, which had brought ill-repute on their race. In order to assure herself of her income, she was compelled to sign a more binding deed of abdica-

a Catholic,

FAMOUS WOMEN

2 4° tion,

which, while

it

might wound her

pride, materially

advanced her condition at Rome, for we hear no more of financial embarrassments. It seems that the Prince who a owed his throne to her was meaner in his payments than the son

who

succeeded on the throne.

The next seven

or

eight years she spent in the cities of Europe, where, after

many

rebuffs, she learned that she could not be received as

a visiting sovereign, nor could she be permitted the public practice of her religion in

countries

where Protestant

bigotry ran high in revenge for Catholic fanaticism else-

where.

She would have

visited Cromwell, but that hard-

At last, after she could not be Queen of Poland, permanently at Rome, where the

hearted Puritan would not welcome her. she was convinced that she returned to reside

Holy Father, regarding her as a spoiled child, allowed her many indulgences. She abhorred the direction of fatherconfessors, who at that time directed domestic life. She entered gaily into the amusements of the carnival, concerts, dramatic entertainments, or whatever else would amuse her. Yet by degrees her character grew milder, and she entered on the last twenty years of her life in a manner and with tranquil habits that have reflected no ordinary luster on her name. She became well pleased with the life of the Romans, and, in her advancing years, reaped the honor and distinction due to her attainments. She took a constantly increasing part in the splendor, the life, and the business of the Roman Curia or court, and believed she could live happily nowhere else. The collections she had brought from Sweden she now arranged and enlarged with liberal purchases, showing so much good judgment that her palace surpassed in its treasures the houses of the ancient nobles, and the pursuit was raised at once out of the lines of curiosity into those of profound scholarship.

Sante Bartolo described her

— CHRISTINA

241

Havereamp has described her coins in his work, “Nummophylacium Reginse Christinse (in the Museum Odescaleum) Spanheim wrote on her coins and medals; and Schroder wrote his “Berichte uber die Gemalde und Statuen der Konigin Christine.” Her collection of paintings by Correggio made her name forever famous among students of the old masters. Her collection of manuscripts cameos.

;

and autographs

is

now in the Vatican

Library.

She spent kind, which

all of her working time in labors of this were vastly for the good of history, and built herself a solid and durable name, so that, after all, her early desire

nearly

for a greater celebrity than could

come

to a small northern

sovereign was answered more favorably than she could

know.

When the learned Doctor Borelli was exiled because he had studied the mechanics of animal motion, he was compelled to teach in his extreme age. Not only did Christina come to

own

his assistance

cost his work,

with a pension, but she printed at her

which instantly became renowned, and

overturned some of the theories of the time.

Ranke, in his “Lives of the Popes,” thinks

that,

when

her character and intellect had been improved and matured, she exercised an efficient and enduring influence on Italian literature.

“The

labyrinth

of

perverted

metaphor,

and vapid triviality,” says he, “into which Italian poetry had then wandered is well known. Christina was too highly cultivated and too solidly endowed to be ensnared by such a fashion it was her utter aversion. In the year 1680 she founded an academy in her own residence for the discussion of literary and political subjects. The first rule of this institution was, that its members should carefully abstain from the turgid style, overloaded with false ornament, which prevailed at the time, and be guided only by sound sense. inflated extravagance, labored conceit,

FAMOUS WOMEN

242

academy proceeded such men as Alessandro Guido, who had been previously addicted to the style then used, but, after some time passed in the society of Christina, not only resolved to abandon it, but formed

From

the Queen’s

a league to abolish at

Rome grew

it

The

altogether.”

celebrated Arcadia

out of Christina’s labors.

In the politics of

Rome

to Cardinal Azzolini, chief

warmly attached

herself

of the Squadronisti

party.

she

She held that Azzolini was the most God-like and spiritualminded man in the world the only person she would exalt above her father’s Chancellor, Oxenstiern. Ranke says she desired to do Azzolini justice in her memoirs, but that was accomplished only in part, yet sufficiently “to give proof of earnestness and uprightness of purpose in her dealings with herself, with a freedom and firmness of mind before which all calumny is silenced.” Arckenholtz has collected Christina’s apothegms and leisure-hour thoughts. They betoken great knowledge of the world, and an acquaintance with the passions, such as could be attained by experience only, with the most subtle remarks on them. She had a vital conviction of the power of self-direction residing in the mind, and was a believer

—

in the

high nobility of the better order of human beings.

She sought

to follow only her

own

ideas of

what would

satisfy the Creator.

She died in high regard and was buried with pomp in writing her epitaph. in the

Chapel of

St.

at

Rome

in 1689,

St. Peter’s, the

aged 63,

Pope himself

Her monument to-day may be

Colonna.

It is

seen

decorated with a repre-

sentation of her abjuration of Protestantism at Innspruck

Cathedral in 1665. Her manuscripts went to the Vatican, and a part of her paintings and antiques was purchased by Odescalchi, nephew of Pope Innocent XI. The other part went to France, being purchased by the Regent Duke

CHRISTINA of Orleans in the minority of Louis

found

A

in the

M3 XV, and may now

be

Louvre.

Swedish

historian, Fryxell, in accounting for the

vagaries of Christina’s earlier years, which almost dis-

appeared in the end, traces the cause to a taint of insanity in the blood of the royal line of

Sweden.

Erik, the poet,

before her, and Charles XII, after her, were worse afflicted

with similar misfortunes.

We have here reviewed briefly the career who, when

all is said,

made

of a

woman

a vast sacrifice in order to

Whatever the anger of Protesand however serious the imputations caused by her eccentricities, she gave an example of doing right according to her conscience that must remain as a bright example to the race. She had the mettle that Joan of Arc possessed in a darker age, and she was more soundly trained in art, thought and learning than any woman of these pages this side of Aspasia. She ought not to be ranked with the satisfy her conscience.

tants,

women

of greatest literary genius, yet she probably

was

most scholarly and meditative woman who has worn a crown in Christendom. the

MADAME DE MAINTENON A. D. 1635-1719

THE MOST ARTFUL OF HER SEX

We shall now proceed to relate the details of an episode it would seem, has not its like as an example of the power to be attained by the exercise of patience, skill, cajolery, hypocrisy, devotion, and state-

in history which,

craft.

For

thirty- two

daughter of a

thief, the

years

widow

an elderly woman,

ruled a capricious monarch, the chief

world, and he never

enemies

knew

who surrounded

the

of a hunchback, absolutely

sovereign in the

the facts, nor could the bitter

the

woman on every

side,

convey

a knowledge of his true situation to the fascinated King.

The King had worn out several other women before he met her, but though many scenes had also passed in the drama of her life, she, in turn, wore him out, and left him to die, as he well deserved, in solitude and neglect. The King was “The Grand Monarch,” Louis XIV. It will be necessary to outline the earlier years of the wonderful

who was

woman

a match for his god-like selfishness and anointed

egotism.

D’Aubigne, the noble friend of Henry of Navarre, left who was a scamp all the way through life.

a son, Constant,

He should have been named Inconstant. this

scamp came well by the

wonderful success. of some of the

qualities

The daughter

of

which wrought her

Constant obtained the post of Viceroy

West Indian

islands (like Martinique)

and

at once set out to turn the islands over to the English.

This being detected, he was deposed, and his governorship 2 44

— MADAME DE MAINTENON of Maillezais, at home,

was taken away.

Madame

stage in his fortunes, a rich widow,

2 45

At

this

low

de Noailles,

She thought she could reform that fast young men made staid husbands, etc. He repaid this service by neglect, but, growing jealous, it was charged that he killed both his wife and a man on whom his suspicions rested His estate was seized and he was cast a double murder. into a cell of the Castle Trompette, at Bordeaux. Here the widower made love to the jailer’s daughter, and, swearing eternal devotion to her, he prevailed on her to aid his This was accomplished, and the pair fled to escape. Martinique, an island not far from the coast of South took pity and married him.

him

—

that he

had sown

his wild oats

America, in the Caribbean Sea.

He

—

raised tobacco, saved

some money, and, against the advice of his wife, leaving wife and son, returned to France, where he was apprehended and cast again into Castle Trompette. His wife, learning of his fate, sailed for France

with her child,

although she was unfit for travel, and was so successful

with her influence that she had her husband transferred to the prison at Niort, where his relatives might be of assist-

ance to him.

While he was in prison at Niort, she who was afterward Madame de Maintenon was born. The child was baptized at Niort, in the diocese of Poitiers, near the Loire

Her godfather was Francis

River, in the west of France.

de

la

Rochefoucauld, her godmother

who gave

the infant the

name

and wife played on the good relatives,

who

Madame de Neuillant,

of Frances.

The mother

will of Constant’s first wife’s

did not prosecute vindictively, and herself

drew up a memorial on which the judges acquitted the husband. He was set at liberty to join a circle of wretches whose members, at last, were accused of counterfeiting and cast into Castle Trompette, he along with the lot.

FAMOUS WOMEN

246

The miserable wife and her two children were forced to young Frances played with the jailer’s daughter. The relatives of so worthless a seek shelter in the prison, and

character were

filled

with disgust, and listened with small

At

patience to the entreaties of the faithful wife.

Madame

last

gave way to the inclinations of humanity and visited the cell. There lay her brother on the stone floor, starved and ill. The two children were wan and only half-clad with rags. The mother and wife was in a pitiful state, though bearing up with woman’s fortitude under difficulties. The sister was Constant’s

sister,

deeply affected, and took

de

Villette,

away

the children,

own

Frances with the nurse of her

made a journey

placing

Thus

daughter.

where Cardinal Richelieu told her with some truth, though with little charity, that the best thing that could happen to her would be to lose such a husband. A charitable Duke of Weimar gave her 100 pistoles, and with this money she was able to get her little Frances near her once more, and It was at last agreed that to bring influence for a pardon. Constant should be set free if he would become a Catholic, and this he readily assented to, as he was anything but a martyr. On his liberation he embarked for America once more, and, while the family were on board ship, the little girl Frances became so ill that she lay for some time withencouraged, the wife

out signs of

life.

The mother,

it

it

in the sea.

to her lord,

on the

from

warm bosom.

The mother,

begged a

life.

anxious

her, in order that a sailor

last

recalling her

own

might

services

embrace, and, placing her hand

child’s heart, declared she felt

the ship’s people restored the future to

to her

father, true to his inglorious record, stood by,

to snatch the child

cast

Paris,

frantic with grief, strove to

reanimate the child by holding

The

to

it

move.

With

this

Madame de Maintenon

MADAME DE MAINTENON Arriving at Martinique the child was

When

seashore.

left

247

alone on the

the mother returned the child

was

sur-

rounded by serpents. The mother advanced undauntedly and snatched her daughter away. The little girl was

proud to be the daughter of a scoundrel, because he was a noble. The children around her reproached her on account of her manifest poverty.

“Yes,

I

am

poor,” she

said; “but I am a noble lady, and you are not.” Her mother read to her what a great man her father’s father had been. “And what am I to be?” asked the child. “What do you wish to be ?” “Queen of Navarre,” replied she, not satisfied with the honors of her grandfather. The

father did better in Martinique, to the extent that he kept

out of

he

jail,

but while the

studied at her Plutarch,

little girl

ill, and died when she was twelve. The widow with her children now returned

fell

to France,

where she found her husband’s debts standing against her own person. She became a hostage for their payment, but the daughter was sent by the Judge of the place to the mother’s relatives, and the deceased father’s sister, Madame de Villette, once more took pity on undeserved misfortune and assumed the care of young Frances, educating her in the Calvinistic faith.

It will

be seen in the

what a viper the Huguenots warmed in their bosoms. Yet she became a strong-minded Protestant. Her mother, visiting her, desired to take her to mass. She sequel

“You do

refused.

better!”

made

was the

not love me, Frances.”

reply.

“I love

She was compelled

to go,

a jest of the mysteries she saw practised.

God and

Her

mother, in anger and chagrin, struck her on the cheek. “Strike

!”

she cried, turning the other cheek, “it

is

glorious

to suffer for

my

young

became a matter of dispute among the

tives,

zealot

religion.”

and the Catholic

On

this,

side obtained

the religion of the rela-

an order of the court

FAMOUS WOMEN

248

giving Frances in

charge

Catholic conservator,

a

of

Madame

good

Her

Catholic.

de Neuillant,

now brought

a priest to argue with Frances, but he was answered pertly,

and the Madame decided

have recourse to harsh meas-

to

She was set She fed the turkeys.

ures to humiliate her charge. the lowest menial.

at the tasks of

As

she said

grimly afterward, “she commanded in the poultry-yard.”

A peasant made love to her, and such was the need of getting the

young

girl to

a convent that the generous Protest-

ant aunt, Villette, consented to pay the pension, and she

Yet the Protestants encouraged her to hold out against conversion, as she was At last, when so highly connected in the Huguenot camp. she was about convinced by the nuns, “I will admit all,” she said, “provided you will not ask me to believe my Aunt entered the Ursulines at Niort.

Villette

On this basis, terms were be damned.” may be this is a generous fable of her flatterers,

will

made, yet

it

Aunt Villette at once disowned her when the conversion was made known. Then the nuns, no longer for the

receiving her pension money, turned her out.

The mother and Frances now went to Paris, where the widow strove vainly to secure sums due to the grandfather and unpaid by Henry of Navarre. There was a comic poet, or satirist named Scarron, a hunchback and cripple, alive only in his head, which, nevertheless, contained a

merry and waggish

brain.

At

his apartments

many

sons of influence gathered to enjoy his conversation. the widow, hoping to advance

Frances, girl

who was uncommonly

was proud and

timid.

her

cause,

good-looking.

per-

Here

went with But the

She was growing so

fast that

gown wa£ too short, and made her appear ridiculous. Coming into a company of great people at this disad-

her

vantage, she burst into tears. confusion, cheered her up.

Scarron, pitying the girl's

She rewarded Scarron for

his

MADAME DE MAINTENON kindness,

it

will be seen,

and

if

anyone

in the

249

company

laughed at her, no doubt the laugh cost dearly in afterIt is the

days.

only mention

we have

of her tender feel-

ings getting the better of her.

Madame d’Aubigne returned to Niort and died in despondency in 1652, leaving Frances seventeen years old. The girl is said to have shut herself up for three months in room at Niort. The young man, Charles, her brother, was made a page in a great family, and the Catholic relative who had been so harsh again took Frances in her care. The girl was vain, and the old lady had a sharp tongue. Frances wrote to a young girl in Paris, and paid a compliment to Scarron. The letter, which had been carefully penned, was shown to Scarron. “Is it at Martinique she

a

has learned to write thus elegantly ?” cried the poet, in astonishment.

they became

He wrote her a complimentary epistle, and The old Madame Neuillant, pro-

friends.

tectress of Frances, girl in

grew

kinder,

came

to Paris, put the

a convent, and hired a dancing-master and teacher

of grand airs to accustom the girl to the society.

Scarron, of stairs,

ways of

polite

The old and the young woman frequently visited who lived in humble apartments up three flights and Scarron fell in love with Frances. The old

lady had no objection to a marriage, as she feared a worse fate for Frances,

and the

girl

became Madame Scarron. He was a comic of age.

Her husband was about 44 years

and played the part of a buffoon at court. Oliver Goldsmith translated his “Comic Romance” into English. Anne of Austria was Regent while Louis XIV was a minor, and Louis (it must be noted) was three years younger than Frances. At the Court of Anne, Scarron “Appoint me merrily implored an office, a post, a place. poet,

Sick it

so

Man

to the

Queen !” he

good a joke that the

and the Queen thought was created. His knees

cried,

office

FAMOUS WOMEN

250

were still bent with paralysis or rheumatism, his head hung low on his breast, and his entire body was contracted. Thus bent up, he wrote on a board fixed to the elbows of his chair. He had been a licentious ecclesiastic, and his marriage did not exalt him in anybody’s opinion.

He

had and people liked to come to his apartments, because he attracted and invited only companions who were interesting. His wit, unhappily, depended for its point on personalities, and his suffered principally because of early dissipation, yet he

the good sense to

“Mazarinade,” or

make a

jest of

it,

sally against the great Cardinal, cut off

Yet he wrote, flattered, begged, laughed and kept the town talking of him, so that Madame Scarron daily saw the most notable people of France, heard the his pension.

innermost gossip of the Court, noted the effects of reputation, conduct,

and language, and withal made use of that by which she was to make herself one of

instinctive skill,

women

“Madame,” them another story, It was life in for we have no roast to serve to-day.” Bohemia. People of all shades of reputation came thither. Ninon de l’Enclos was a welcome guest. From such the most celebrated

whispered her servant at

of the world.

table, “tell

precincts, of course, the best

went with them only long before

Madame

men

kept their wives, or

at rare intervals, so that

it

was not

Scarron affected a moral superiority,

and sometimes stayed away. The life in Bohemia grew wearisome to the world, Scarron’s jokes came to sound familiar and mechanical, want entered at the door, and Scarron died in indigence and neglect. Yet his widow had not lost reputation, and had gained greatly in beauty and worldly wisdom. It was 1640, and she was now twenty-five.

She is described by her friends as possessing regular and lovely features, a freshness of complexion, a sweet and

MADAME DE MAINTENON intelligent smile,

an oval

to the aquiline, full, finely

face,

dark and

251

a nose delicately inclining

brilliant eyes, regular teeth,

turned hands and arms, and a modest way, which she

advanced by means of plain yet neat apparel. She was a woman to whom men were drawn, and, in her turn, that instinct of falsity

prison,

in

advancement. the

first

which

in her father

her was cultivated

great

rather

had for

led

him

into

her certain

Fouquet, Superintendent of Finance, was

Lord

to fall

under her

wiles.

He made

her

a present of diamonds, which were piously returned, as

diamonds did not play an important part in her life. The Count de la Gardie (probably Queen Christina’s exiled favorite, now in Paris) was the next to be smitten, and made himself useful by advancing the widow’s claims to Scarron’s unpaid or suspended pension. The young Louis XIV had now come to the throne and married Maria Theresa, Infanta of Spain. This Princess, naturally, desired to make herself popular in gossippy Bohemia. She heard the joke of “Sick Man to the Queen,” and admired the constancy of the widow during Scarron’s final sufferings. The Queen asked the Count how much the annuity was. He said it was 2,000 livres it had been really only 1,500 livres. Upon this the handsome widow was enabled to go to Val de Grace to thank her Majesty. Everybody who remembered her was desirous of the widow’s gratitude, and she, by her cold demeanor, quickly “Oh, well,” said a spiteful put them at odds with her. dame, “if the Queen wishes to give a pension to the loveliest woman and the greatest coquette in Paris, she has ;

made the best choice.” The remark angered Madame Scarron so became ill. “You are now,” said her confessor,

that she

“fixing a

penalty on yourself for the crimes of your enemy.

Was enabled

to live at the

She

nunnery of the Hospitalers,

in

FAMOUS WOMEN

252

Rue

and gave the wicked fourth of her This was doubtless at the priest’s suggestion, an expiation being necessary. She in the meantime had not escaped some very undesirable the

new

St. Jacques,

pension to the poor in alms.

connections.

She had

visited

an astrologer,

who had

foretold that

the wife of a cripple was born to be a Queen.

It

agreed

with the fancies of her childhood, and she again sought the astrologer.

“A King

He

continued to prophesy a throne for her.

shall love you,”

King, of course, and

he

Madame

raise her to his throne.

said.

A handsome young woman with

2,000 livres a year began to attract

had done, were looking for wives. of great wealth offered

There was but one

Scarron knew he could not

Madame

men who,

as Scarron

It is said a

Marquis

Scarron his hand, to be

and orderly young woman began to spread, notwithstanding some unpleasant facts. Anne of Austria died, and Madame Scarron made a display of grief. The pension was cut off, perhaps to advance the suit of the Marquis, but the Madame continued firm. She said Scarron had attracted desirable friends; the Marquis would drive them away. She knew the Princess Nemours, who was to become Queen of Portugal, and she was now

Her fame

refused.

as a devout

forced to apply for a position as lady-in-waiting to the

Queen, and to agree to depart for a foreign country, when she met at the Hotel d’Albret, one of the few houses to

which she had admission, the notorious tespan,

who was This

tress.

Madame Madame

generally

fine

known

Madame

de

Mon-

to be the King’s mis-

lady took an immediate liking for

Scarron, and, almost the next day, the matter of

Scarron’s pension was brought before the King.

The name, while

a lucky one for a buffoon, was uncommonly harsh to the ear of Louis, and he would repeat: “The widow Scarron most humbly supplicates your

MADAME DE MAINTENON Majesty”

— “Shall

I,” cried he,

2 53

“hear nothing spoken of

widow Scarron?” The guilty lovers quarreled over the widow Scarron, but the King finally gave way, but the

and the widow, again supplied with means, refused the She opportunity of exile which had mocked her hopes. must have practiced her best arts on Montespan, to whom she appeared as one clearly devout and humble, mourning for Scarron. She had learned a lesson regarding pensions, and henceforth she saved her money. The great Madame de Richelieu now opened her home, and Madame Scarron was given a humble footing in the Hotel de Richelieu.

Here

it

was

settled that she should

be taken care of as governess of the King’s children by

—

Madame de Montespan she had no less than seven in Madame Scarron’s terms were high. It was a task

all.

for

which she had little taste, and the King did not like either the terms or the frightful sibilant, guttural, trill, and nasal all combined in the buffoonish name of Scarron. Yet Montespan, with tears, threats and entreaties brought it about.

A fine establishment was purchased at Vaugirard,

a suburb, and a

numerous

charge of

Madame

Scarron, with a large income, and

staff of servants,

all

was

placed, at thirty-four, in

the illegitimate children that the

King might

She was now well out of the world. All she could do was to wait and save money. She accumulated funds rapidly, having many means at hand. She already had in have.

mind a property of her own and tunes of the family d’Aubigne.

a renovation of the for-

Probably the expense and

inconvenience of a separate nursery at Vaugirard led the

King

to direct that his illegitimate children be

housed in

the palace, and this, to the mortification of the poor Queen,

was done at the end of four years. By this time Madame Scarron had saved enough money to be able to purchase

FAMOUS WOMEN

254

the estate of Maintenon, not far from Paris, on the high

road to Brest.

The King had been ron, but her careful

prejudiced against

ways soon

interested him,

extraordinary care in avoiding him railed at her scholarship.

He

Madame

piqued

Scar-

and her

him.

He

called her “the wit,” “the

“Why do you talk to her

comic poet,” “the learned lady,”

“Do you wish

so much he asked of Montespan. make you as pedantic as herself ?” ?”

her to

Presently, however, the children began to praise their

governess to the King, and at danger.

Montespan saw her

last

“I dare not speak to the

King

alone,” the gov-

“Madame Montespan would never At this, the King began to invite Madame

erness said;

me.”

to his small parties,

woman’s

instinct,

still

taking

little

forgive

Scarron

notice of her.

Montespan strove

to defend her

With

own

by complaining of Scarron. “If she displeases you, why don’t you send her away? Are you not the mistress ?” This was the reply of the King, and it seems to have convinced Madame Scarron that her royal game could not be enmeshed. Her perquisites had been shut off with the removal of her establishment. She was ready to rebel against Montespan, and rebel she did, avowing her purpose of removing to Maintenon, rather than to submit to the tyranny of Montespan she a granddaughter of Agrippa D’Aubigne, and so on. At last it was found that only a command of the monarch would keep her, and lo! this command came. Henceforth in fact, an apology she should take charge of the children, and report only to the King. The King solaced her with a gift, and this completed the payments on the estate of Maintenon. She was so elated with her restoration to a landed property that the King was pleased, and publicly called her Madame de Maintenon. This was instantly repeated by the courtiers, position

—

—

—

MADAME DE MAINTENON

255

who among themselves already divined the trend of things, and in whispers named her Madame de “Maintenant” (“Now”),

The King now

and The Duchess of

treated her with polite distinction,

she assumed a strong religious fervor. Richelieu, seeing

Montespan

falling in favor, correctly

attributed the disaster to the poor

widow whom

she had

befriended, and berated the governess, but her reply

haughty

—“May she (Montespan) be

so disgraceful a manner.

I

her— and you was somebody else’s In fact, by this means,

hope to convert

In Maintenon’s opinion

also!”

it

turn at last to go to the convents. alone, could poor

Montespan’s irretrievable ruin be

She could

ened to the world.

was

the last to reign in

soft-

affect to see the error of her

This was the bold and by which Maintenon advanced on her

ways, and enter a college of nuns. successful plan

friend, once her only protectress in France.

The King

continued to look with admiration on his wise, devout and

When she was forty-three he Maintenon to a Marquisate, and she was now a Marchioness. It was no longer comfortable or good-looking governess. raised the estate of

convenient for the rival 1680,

women

whep Maintenon was

to be together, and, in

forty-five,

he gave her a high

place at court.

She at once advocated the dismissal of Montespan as an act necessary to the salvation of the King’s soul. “Yet “Sire,” argued she loves me, and I love her still,” he said. Maintenon, able loss

“if

—her

you love

soul

?

her,

Had

seduced you into vice?”

would you cause her

irrepar-

she loved you, would she have

She

told

him

that an extreme

devotion to the female sex sullied the glory of a Prince.

Madame

de Montespan, meanwhile, was absent, seeking

absolution from complaisant priests, and that Louis sent for her to

it is

remarkable

come back. Thereupon Madame

FAMOUS WOMEN

256

de Maintenon also tried the

effect of absence on him, and went by the Castle Trompette. When she returned, she found Montespan well on her guard, with all

in her travels

the court desirous of defeating Maintenon.

It

was the

business of Maintenon to arrange the hair of the King's

daughter-in-law, the

Crown

Princess

else could aid the ailing Princess

now

whim

a

would

of Louis to

at

least,

without pain.

come often

how my

—

to the toilette.

nobody It was

“One

comber contributed to my elevation," confessed Maintenon afterward. Her brother was made Count d’ Aubigne. e shall hear of him anon. At last the King grew weary of the sight of Montespan around the court. Her eldest son, the Duke of Maine, basely carried her the order of the King, and scarcely conceive

talents as a

W

was

elated to see her go.

He was ever one of the staunch-

and she did her best to Montespan went away in tears and fury, the victim of an ingratitude so base and designing that it est supporters of his governess,

make him King.

has been the marvel of historians ever

At

since.

court Maintenon was called the “Amie,” the female

She proceeded to teach the King the moralities. He now had two cast-off mistresses in convents, and she announced to him that, though his going to mass he never missed but one in his life might secure him absolution for past offenses, there must come a time when it would be necessary to begin a better life. On this account the poor Queen Maria Theresa, had a few years of peace, and died in the arms of Maintenon, in 1683. Soon afterward Maintenon was advanced to be first lady-in-waiting friend.

—

—

to the

Crown

Princess,

now the leading place at

court to be

held by a subject not a scion of the blood, and, in the winter

of 1685-6, she was privately married to the

King by the

Archbishop of Paris, in the presence of Pere Lachaise, the King’s confessor, after

whom

the

famous cemetery

in

MADAME DE MAINTENON Painting by Pierre Ulignard, Versailles

Museum

MADAME DE MAINTENON was named, and three other

Paris

witnesses.

2 57

The woman,

born in a prison, the widow of a miserable cripple, had through the power of religious persuasion, at an

thus,

advanced age, won her way to the side of the principal King in the world, who was soon also to add the realm of Isabella to his family possessions.

time would soften the King’s

She did not doubt that opposition

to

a

public

announcement of the marriage. She hereupon enters into the bright light of St. Simon’s Memoirs. She had been seven or eight years beside Louis XIV when the young Duke of St. Simon arrived at court, but we are henceforth to look on her without theory or perplexity. She was hated by St. Simon from the

possibly because the

first,

his hereditary governorship

King wished

to take

Blaye and give

of

“Is there not a son?” the

Charles, her brother.

away it

to

King

asked of D’Aubigne.

Of

all

the persons

printed them, St. taining,

and

who have

Simon ranks

instructive.

He

secretly

as the

made

notes and

most authentic, enter-

alone, in those days, looked

on a great King and did not inwardly tremble. He alone studied the character of Maintenon, and saw beneath her affected modesty and devotion, the ambition, resentment, and almost irresistible purpose that resided in her heart. There was a great and undiscovered poisoner somewhere Court of Louis XIV.

in the

ister, his all

The King’s

wife, his min-

deceased son’s son and wife, and their eldest son,

suddenly. The deeds seem to have been done by the Duke of Orleans and St. Simon or by Mainte-

fell

either

non.

Nobody

had the chief

ever charged her with the crimes, but she

interest in all of them.

constant expressions of “the

Madame

fatal

St.

Simon, by his

witch,”

“the fatal

de Maintenon,” gives us sufficient hints that he

wishes us to charge her with the crimes. Voi,. 5

— *7

As

for Louis

FAMOUS WOMEN

’ 5*

XIV, he looked on them

all

with a

stolidity

that

has

puzzled the world.

The wars

of the

Dukes and Counts of France had

set-

The only way to avoid Leagues, Frondes and massacres was to let one man do as

tled themselves in

he pleased

—

internecine

King-worship.

this, at least,

war—and

had seemed

Louis was

now

too, for the task of pleasing himself

A woman

to bring

an end of

the man, well-fitted,

and being

pleased.

of fifty-one years took her chair beside him, at

and knitted while he discussed the condition of secretaries, who were called Ministers. The children had dubbed Maintenon “Madame Reason.” Once in a while the King would turn to her: “Let us consult with Dame Reason,” or “What thinks your Solidity of that idea ?” And she would reply that such matters were far past the ken of a poor woman like her. But, still, if she gave an opinion, it was sure to be the King’s, so that the Ministers soon became anxious to learn her views in his request,

France with his

The obliviousness of the King to the feelings or was so monstrous that she must have despised him at the very commencement, for he was a man advance.

rights of others

whom nobobdy could love; yet her love of power and attention

was

so keen that she filled her place with unalterable

enthusiasm.

At

first

she busied herself with matters clearly within

her province.

She

felt

the need, from experience, of an

institution which should provide for the indigent daughters

of the nobility.

workmen

Accordingly, at St. Cyr, near Versailles,

one year, a magnificent buildwhich would give a home, an education, and a small Here, dowry to 250 young women of needy families. afterward, Eliza Bonaparte was educated. At St. Cyr Maintenon arranged a small theater, where Racine’s tragedies of “Esther” and“ Athalie”were first performed, and

2,500 ing,

erected, in

MADAME DE MAINTENON many private

*59

entertainments for the King were given with

a success that was the envy of other courts.

King

built for her the

Grand Trianon

Next,

at Versailles,

the.

which

The position of the King, thus enmeshed, it may be guessed, was not flattering to the Bourbon pride. How soon would he break away from it ? is

to-day a national museum.

No

one could

She had span;

tell,

and, least of

fortified herself

now

all,

Madame

Maintenon.

with Maintenon against Monte-

she had St. Cyr as a fortress against the King.

There she was munificently provided for, for life. The Pope had appointed her Visitant of all French convents.

More

she could not do

“She had her

“Her

brother,

of but

little

—

let

the worst come.

troubles,” says St. Simon, with glee.

who was

Count of Aubigne, was man were his equal. He complained because he had not been made a Marshal of France— sometimes said that he had taken his baton in money, and constantly bullied Madame de Maintenon because she did not make him a Duke and a peer. He spent his time running after girls in the Tuileries, always had several on his hands, and lived and spent his money with their families and friends of the same kidney. He was just fit for a waistcoat, but comical, full of wit, and unexpected repartees. A good, humorous fellow, and honest polite and not too impertinent on account of his sister's fortune.” It may be seen he was a more called the

worth, yet always spoke as though no

—

honest

man

“Yet

it

than his father.

was a pleasure

Simon, rolling

talk of the time of

to hear

him

talk,” says St.

—

“to hear him Scarron and the Hotel D’Albret, and of

this

morsel in his month

and adventures of his sister, which he contrasted with her present position and devotion. He would talk in this manner, not before one or two, but in a comthe gallantries

promising manner, quite openly

in the Tuileries gardens,

— FAMOUS WOMEN

26o

or in the galleries of Versailles, before everybody, and

would often

drolly speak of the

King

as “the brother-in-

law.”

Maintenon

and sent him and his wife off to a place where they could be under the eyes of her agents. The wife was a poor creature, and Maintenon took their child, a daughter, to St. Cyr, and finally haltered this fellow

afterward made her heir to a vast fortune.

One bad Friday evening the great poet Racine was sent amuse the King. The three sat before the fire. The King asked why comedy was not more in vogue. Oh, for to

for several reasons, Racine said; for one, there were

no

—those

of

new

comedies, and the actors gave old ones

Scarron, for instance, which were worth nothing, and

found no favor wdth anybody. “At this,” says St. Simon, “the poor widow blushed, not for the reputation of the cripple attacked, but at hearing the name mentioned in the On seeing the slip he had presence of his successor.” made, Racine did not dare to speak further, nor to raise After a long pause, the King said he was going

his eyes.

to work.

Neither the King nor

Madame

de Maintenon

ever spoke to Racine again, or even looked at him. and he fell

into a languor, dying

two years

later.

—

“What manner of person she was this incredible enchantress and how she governed all-powerfully for more than thirty years,” says St. Simon, “it behooves me to explain. She made the King so afraid of the devil that

—

she became what our eyes have seen her, but what posterity will

never believe she was.”

possessed

much

wit,

In

brief, St.

Simon says she

and the many positions she had held

rendered her flattering, insinuating and complaisant

always seeking to please.

The King had given way to her

incomparable grace, her easy manner, yet measured and respectful, which, in consequence of her long obscurity

MADAME DE MAINTENON

261

had become natural to her, and marvelously aided her She never liked St. Simon, and as long as the old King lived, the Duke received no honors. Probably she

talents.

easily detected his taste for intrigue, also the great ability

the celebrated writer

We

was so desirous

to conceal.

catch frequent glimpses of this elderly

woman,

ever afterward in St. Simon’s twelve volumes, sitting beside the

King

knitting,

and modestly expressing her she had

unwillingness to debate public affairs (which

How

come that St. Simon a Duke of ancient her hands might have become useful to

previously planned).

could not win her favor?

did

it

He was

and in But “her flightiness or inconstancy,” says St. Simon, “was of the most dangerous kind. With the exception of some of her old friends, to whom she had good reason for remaining faithful, she favored people one moment only to cast them off the next. You were admitted to an audience with her, for instance, you pleased her in some manner, and forthwith she unbosomed herself to you as though she had known you from childhood. At the second audience you found her dry, laconic, cold. You racked your brains to discover the cause of this change; mere loss of Possibly it time! Flightiness was the sole cause of it.” was the sober second thought, that the Duke must not be trusted, or allowed to become intimate with the King. Devoutness was her strong point, and by this means she governed the King, who thought that he was an apostle, because he had always persecuted the Jansenists and listened to the praise of the Jesuits. It must not be imagined lineage,

her.

—

He that the King was ruled so that he knew it himself. was thoroughly imperious, allowing no one to disobey him, and for thirty-two years, while he was under this woman’s influence, he was constantly on the lookout for the decep-

— FAMOUS WOMEN

262 tions

which she daily practised upon him without

dis-

covery.

The

was under her was soon learned

chief Minister, Louvois,

In the matter of appointments

it

control.

that the

King scanned the lists perfunctorily, and struck out a name or two at a certain place in the list, merely to exercise his After the name was eliminated, there was no authority. use in attempting to secure a different judgment from the

monarch, so long as he remembered the applicant, and to attempt a rehearing was only to impress the unfortunate

name more

deeply on his mind.

fore, desired the

name was

placed in that part of the

had shown was comparatively

Her

When

anger,

if

Maintenon, there-

appointment of a friend or retainer, the list

which experience

safe.

incurred to the point of vengeance, was

equally fatal to Prince or peasant

—

to the lowest officer or

we shall show in the was her ardent desire that her marriage should be proclaimed, and when Louvois boldly prevented the proclamation, after she had patiently planned until she had obtained the King’s permission then she set out to ruin Louvois. She had always favored the persecution of the Huguenots and the bloody acts of the throne, and Louvois probably thought to please her when he urged the King to add to the terrible executions in the Palatinate and to burn the city of Treves. To this the King would not consent. Louvois did not know his danger, and coming the next day to work with the King, with Madame de Maintenon sitting by as usual, he remarked that he had felt it to be his duty to burn the city of Treves, and had on his own responsibility sent a courier with orders to set fire to the place at once. At this the old King leaped from his chair, seized the tongs from the fireplace, and was making a run at Louvois, when Maintenon the highest minister in the realm, as

terrible

tragedy of Louvois.

It

:

MADAME DE MAINTENON “Oh,

seized him, crying:

Louvois ran

do?”

him

house

arrive in time; for,

is

“Of

know

this, that if

a single

answer for it.” Simon, “Louvois had sent

burned your head course,” says St.

what are you going to called after him: with a counter order, and

Sire,

The King

out.

“Dispatch a courier instantly let

263

shall

off

no

courier to burn Treves.”

From

this

time forward Louvois was

says Louvois took two

He mused

caleche.

abstraction, repeating

No

—not — yet

drove them

women

out to drive in a small

profoundly, :

Simon

St.

lost.

“Will he

in

!

a

fit

of

Will he be

no, he will not dare!”

On

this

perfect

made

to ?

he nearly

and was aroused, as if out of a deep sleep. Suddenly, Louvois died. He had been poisoned by Seron, his private physician, doubtless upon the order of the King, who allowed no one to speak of the affair, until the arrival of an officer sent by the King of England to condole with the King of France upon the loss all

into the water,

of his minister premier.

St.

Simon heard the King

reply

“Monsieur, say to the King and Queen of England that

my

affairs

and

theirs will

go on none the worse for what

has happened.”

Simon

from the monologue of Louvois was deemed necessary, owing to the knowledge possessed by Louvois. The King let it be known that on the next day Louvois, had St.

believed,

in the caleche, that the poisoning

he survived, would have been sent to the

Bastille.

To

dis-

please the sovereign was a serious crime in those days,

and Louvois had blasted the hopes of a terrible woman who swayed the King. “The pow&r of Madame de Maintenon,” says St. Simon, “was, as

may be

imagined, im-

Many people have been ruined by her, without having been able to discover the author of their ruin,

mense.

FAMOUS WOMEN

264

search as they might.

All attempts to find a remedy were

equally unsuccessful.” If

Madame

de Maintenon’s

life

was a sham, a career

so false and at the same time so influential should have

brought ill-fortune to France, and so one* of the royal heirs out of the

it

way when

did.

She got

she persuaded

Louis to undertake the Spanish succession, but those wars began the destruction of France. She appointed cowardly generals and dissipated civilians to command the armies at a time when men like Prince Eugene of Savoy were marching against France. But of all atrocious acts, only a few in modern times rank with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, whereby Henry of Navarre, on becom-

whom he had led and then deserted. “The revocation,” says St. Simon, “and the proscriptions that followed it, were the fruit of a frightful plot, in which the new spouse was one of the chief and she a granddaughter of D’Aubigne conspirators” and the recipient of Madame de Villette’s act of salvation. By this edict of Louis XIV, 50,000 families of French silk- workers, glass-blowers, jewelers, and other cunning trades, generally unpractised in Protestant lands, were driven out of France, and established a great commerce in rival countries. At home, thousands were killed and thousands were condemned to the prison-ships. From the torture chamber victims who abjured were taken to Cities were burned, and whereas the communion-table. Isabella and Catherine had been upheld at Rome in their cruel hunt for heretics, a more enlightened Pope actually

ing a Catholic, had protected the people

—

quarreled with Louis

XIV

for his inhumanity.

private purpose the resentful

woman

What

entertained in thus

urging on this unpatriotic persecution has never been divulged, nor did the King, who said “The State? Why, that

is

I

!

—

—

I

am

the State,” ever seem to hear from hu-

;

MADAME DE MAINTENON man

lips

265

any other than the declaration that he was daily

grappling his loving subjects to his soul with hooks of steel.

As

to her daily habits while she

was thus

in

supreme

power, she rose very early in the morning and gave audiences for charitable purposes or spiritual affairs.

every beggar in France,

it

Nearly

seemed, claimed he had given

when she was herself a beggar. She saw the ministers as early as 8 o’clock in the morning, or sooner. She dealt principally with the departments of war and finance. She visited their offices they did not She then went to St. Cyr, and ate alone, givcall on her. She ruled the establishment, scanned ing few audiences. her a ladle of soup

—

the reports of converts, read the letters of her chief spies,

and returned

to Versailles just as the

When

ing her rooms.

King was

she got old, she lay

Toward 9

enter-

down when

two waiting women came to undress her, and, after she was ready The King for bed, a light supper was brought to her. and his ministers were meanwhile at work, nor did they Then she was put speak lower while this was going on. in bed, and at 10 o’clock the King, saying good-night, went to his own supper. Before her bed was her arm-chair next was the table beyond was the King’s arm-chair at the end of the table was the fire-place; at the other end was a stool for the By means of the arts secretly practiced on Minister. she reached St. Cyr.

in the evening,

;

;

the King, she could obtain whatever she wished, but not at the

moment

people, he

He was continually on he knew she was advancing her own

she might wish.

the lookout, and

if

would refuse the appointment.

Fie frequently

scolded her so terribly that she said to her brother that life

was an

intolerable burden.

After she got Fagon for

King’s physician, she could play sick after such abuse by

;

FAMOUS WOMEN

2 66

the King, which would then moderate his wrath.

But

he were going anywhere, she must go, too, sick or well

if

thus she

was forced

near being her

windows open

make some journeys which came liked a warm room he kept the io o’clock. If the King felt like

to

She

last.

until

;

hearing music, and she were in a high fever, there was music with the light and odor of a hundred wax candles at her sick-bed, the

The pair grew for she loved all

things.

same as

if

she were well.

old together, each the dupe of the other,

power and revenge so well

Nearly

all

that she endured

their early acquaintances

were dead.

In the gloom of their great age, the deaths by poisoning First the King’s only son died of small-pox;

began.

Duke

Crown Prince, and his wife, King had loved in his latter years, fell before the unknown assassins, although there were plenty Other of warnings, one coming from the King of Spain. members of the royal line perished with the same disease then the

of Burgundy,

the only person the

—

-a

poisoning that seemed to affect the body like measles

—and the King was

would be was now so Maintenon plotted

led to believe that he, too,

refused the death from natural causes that

near at hand owing to his great age.

make the Duke of Maine, Montespan’s oldest son, Regent during the minority of the little boy (Louis XV) who remained unpoisoned, and the King made a will to to

that effect.

On

the

1

2th of August, 1715, the

King was

seriously

on the 25th no secret was made of his danger; on Wednesday, the 28th, gangrene attacked his feet, and Madame Maintenon, now seeing her time of revenge well come, went off to St. Cyr. On Thursday he asked for her, and it could not be hidden from him that she had deserted him. He sent for her, and she came back. At o’clock of Friday afternoon, Madame de Maintenon, 5 ill;

MADAME DE MAINTENON

267

him again, gave away her furniture to the domestics, and went to St. Cyr, never to leave its walls alive. The King died on Sunday morning at 8 o’clock. She upon whom he had looked as his guide to a better world, cast off her mask when he was weak, penitent and She, too, was old, and in fear of the fate he deserved. Her heart was dry as summer dust the near her tomb. She could candle of her life burned low in the socket. leaving

;

spare no tears, even for the curious world to see.

We

hear that she gave audience only to Peter the Great and the Regent after she went

home

She was

to St. Cyr.

very rich, having 4,000 livres a month from the Regent, her estates, and almost no expense. When she saw the Duke of Maine arrested and her plans fail, she took a continuous fever and died on Saturday evening, April 15, She left her wealth to the daughter of 1719, aged 83.

her brother, the Duchess of Noailles, and Maintenon

still

belongs to her descendants.

She was the political rule

first

of the woman-despots, who, by their

over uxorious French monarchs,

ancient regime so repugnant to

human

made

the

reason that the

worst crimes of the Revolution seemed to have some warrant.

There followed her

at Versailles the frail Chateau-

roux, the flagrant Pompadour, the vain

Du

Barry, and

then the high-born Marie Antoinette, beautiful daughter of Emperors, went to the scaffold and closed the long

account which had been opened in sin and deceit by

Madame

de Maintenon.

—

MARY THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON A. D. 1714-1796

When,

any part of the

in

to the ideal subject of equal

earth,

human

men’s thoughts turn rights under the law,

and equal opportunities at birth, there rises, out of all the mists of democracy in the past, but one colossal figure George Washington cold, silent, immovable, yet a man the most generally admired of any the world has produced. As governmental systems pass on the scale from the American method onward through constitutional monarchy to the deepest shades of despotism, the fame of Washington advances, until those historians who are furthest away are most sensible of what he did that was godlike, and most enthusiastic in placing him foremost among the men who have been. He was in himself a Solon and a Caesar and a Cincinnatus. “He was a Crom-

—

well without ambition,” says Alison, “a Sylla without proscription.”

This powerful, just

terrible,

inexorable,

gentle,

patient,

man, the Father of His Country of Seventy-five Mil-

lion People, with

many

millions

more from

lately added, in-

mother Mary. and authentically from the pen oi Lawrence Washington, a half-brother, who was himselt father and friend to Pater Patriae: “Of the mother 1 was ten times more afraid than I ever was of my own parents. She awed me in the midst of her kindness, for she was indeed truly kind. And even now, when time

herited his remarkable personality

We have

it

directly

368

his

MARY WASHINGTON has whitened

my locks,

ond generation,

I

without feelings

it is

and

I

am

269

the grandparent of a sec-

could not behold that majestic impossible to describe.

woman

Whoever has

seen that awe-inspiring air and manner, so characteristic in the

Father of his Country, will remember the matron

as she appeared

when

the presiding genius of her well-or-

dered household, commanding and being obeyed.”

woman upon whom

In seeking for an American

eyes of past generations have been drawn, and on the admiration of felt

coming ages

is likely

to rest,

the

whom

we have

even more than a patriotic honor in choosing Mary,

the mother of George Washington.

Fortunately for the

and instruction of the world, a man connected with her family but in no wise related to her, George W. P. Custis, grandson of the widow Custis, who married George Washington, gathering the records and traditions of the family before they were lost, prepared a sketch of the life of Mary Washington, which contains all or nearly all that is authentically known of her, and this sketch here curiosity

follows

:

“Mrs. Washington was descended from the respectable who settled, as English colonists, on the banks of the Potomac. Bred in those domestic and independent habits which graced the Virginia matrons in family of Ball,

the old days of Virginia, this lady, by the death of her

husband, became involved in the cares of a young family, at a period

when

those cares seem

more

especially to claim

the aid and control of the stronger sex.

It

was

left

for

eminent woman, by a method the most rare, by an education and discipline the most peculiar and imposing, this

to

form in the youth-time of her which gave lustre

tial qualities, life.

it

and essen-

to the glories of his after-

more of the Spartan than was a fitter school to form a hero,

If the school savored the

the Persian character,

son, those great

*

FAMOUS WOMEN

270

destined to be the ornament of the age in which he flour-

and a standard of excellence for ages yet to come. It was remarked by the ancients that the mother always gave the tone to the character of the child; and we may be

ished,

permitted to say that, since the days of old renown, a

mother has not

lived better fitted to give the tone

acter of real greatness to her child, than she

markable

life

and actions

and charwhose re-

this reminiscence will

endeavor

to illustrate.

At the time of his father’s death, George Washington was only twelve years of age. He has been heard to say that he knew little of his father, except the remembrance of and of his paternal fondness. To his mother’s forming care he himself ascribed the origin of his fortunes and his fame. The home of Mrs. Washington, of which she was always mistress, was always a pattern of order. There the levity and indulgence common to youth were tempered by a deference and well-regulated restraint, which, while it neither repressed nor condemned any rational enjoyment usual in the springtime of life, prescribed those enjoyments within the bounds of moderation and propriety. Thus the Chief was taught the duty of moderation and obedience, which prepared him to command. Still, the mother held in reserve an authority a reverse which never departed from her, not when her son had become the most illustrious of men. It seemed to say “I am your mother, the being who gave you life, the guide who directed your steps when they needed a guardian; my maternal affection drew forth your love; my authority constrained your spirit; whatever may be your success or your renown, next to your God, your reverence is due to me.” Nor did the Chief dissent

his person

:

from these truths;

but, to the last

moments

able parent, yielded to her will the

of his vener-

most dutiful and im-

;

MARY WASHINGTON plicit

271

obedience, and felt for her person and character the

highest respect and the most enthusiastic attachment.

Such were the domestic influences under which the mind of Washington was formed; and that he not only profited by, but fully appreciated their excellence and the character of his mother, his behavior toward her at all times

testified.

Upon

his

appointment to the

command

American armies, previously to his joining Cambridge, he removed his mother from her

in chief of the

the forces at

country residence to the village of Fredericksburg, a

situ-

from danger and contiguous to her friends and relatives. It was there the matron remained during nearly the whole of the trying period of the Revolution. Directly in the way of the news as it passed from north to south, one courier would bring intelligence of success to our arms; another, “swiftly coursing at his heels,” the saddening reverse of disaster and defeat. While thus ebbed and flowed the fortunes of our cause, Providence preserved the even tenor of her life, affording an example to those matrons whose sons were alike engaged in the arduous contest; and showing that unavailing anxieties, however belonging to nature, were unworthy of mothers whose sons were combating for the inestimable rights of man and the freedom and happiness of the world. When the comforting and glorious intelligence arrived of the passage of the Delaware (December, 1776), an event which restored our hopes from the very brink of despair, a number of her friends waited upon the mother with congratulations. She received them with calmness observed that it was most pleasurable news, and that George appeared to have deserved well of his country for such signal services and continued, in reply to the gratulating parties (most of whom held letters in their hands from which they read extracts) “But, my good sirs, ation remote

;

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

272

here

is

too

the lessons

I

though he

is

much early

flattery

—

still,

taught him

—he

George

much

the subject of so

will not forget

will not forget himself,

praise.”

Here let us remark upon the absurdity of an idea which, from some strange cause or other, has been suggested, though certainly never believed, that the mother was disposed to favor the Royal cause. Such a surmise has not the slightest foundation in truth. others,

whose days of enthusiasm were

Like

in the

many

wane, the

lady doubted the prospects of success in the beginning of the war; and long during

its

continuance feared that our

means would be found inadequate to a successful contest with so formidable a power as Britain; and our soldiers, brave, but undisciplined and ill-provided, be unequal to cope with the veteran and well-appointed troops of the King. Doubts like these were by no' means confined to a woman but were both entertained and expressed by the staunchest of patriots and most determined of men. But when the mother, who had been removed to the county of Frederick, on the invasion of Virginia, in 1781, was informed by express of the surrender of Cornwallis, she raised her hands to heaven and exclaimed “Thank God, war will now be ended, and peace, independence and hap;

:

piness will bless our country.”

During the war, and, indeed, during her useful life, up to the advanced age of 82, until within three years of her death (when an afflictive disease prevented exertion), the mother set a most valuable example, in the management of her domestic concerns, carrying her own keys, bustling in her

household

affairs,

providing for her

and living and moving in all the pride of independence. She was not actuated by that ambition for show which pervades lesser minds and the peculiar plainness and dignity of her manners became in no wise altered, family,

;

MARY WASHINGTON Painting by Gilbert Stuart, Fine Arts

Museum, Boston

MARY WASHINGTON

2 73

when the sun of glory arose upon her house. There are some of the aged inhabitants of Fredericksburg who well remember the matron, as seated in an old-fashioned open chaise. She was in the habit of visiting, almost daily, her farm, in the vicinity of the town.

little

would ride about her fields, giving her that they were obeyed.

Her of

When orders,

there, she

and seeing

great industry, with the well-regulated economy

her concerns, enabled the matron to dispense con-

all

siderable charity to the poor, although her

were always

stances

far

from

All

rich.

own

circum-

manner of do-

mestic economies, so useful in those times of privation and

met her zealous attention while everything about her household bore marks of her attention and management, and very many things the impress of her own hands. In a very humble dwelling, and suffering under an extrouble,

;

cruciating disease (cancer of the breast) thus lived this

mother of the liar

first

of men, preserving unchanged her pecu-

nobleness and independence of character.

She was continually visited and solaced by her children and numerous grandchildren, particularly by her daughter, Mrs. Lewis. To the repeated and earnest solicitations of that lady, that she would remove to her house, and pass the remainder of her days to the pressing treaties of her son, that she would make Mount Vernon the “I thank you for home of her age, the matron replied your affectionate and dutiful offers, but my wants are ;

:

few

in this world,

care

of

and

I feel

Her

myself.”

perfectly competent to take

son-in-law,

Colonel

Fielding

Lewis, proposed to relieve her of the direction of her affairs

;

she observed

:

“Do

in order, for

your eyesight

the executive

management

One weakness voi,. 5

— 18

you, Fielding, keep

is

to

my

books

better than mine; but leave

me.”

alone attached to this lofty-minded and

FAMOUS WOMEN

274 intrepid cause.

woman, and that proceeded from a most affecting She was afraid of lightning. In early life she

had a female friend killed by her side, while sitting at table; the knife and fork, in the hands of the unfortunate girl, were melted by the electric current. The matron never recovered from the shock and fright occasioned by this distressing accident.

On

the approach of a thunder-

cloud she would retire to her chamber, and not leave

it

again until the storm had passed away.

She was always pious, but in her latter days her devotions were performed in private. She was in the habit of repairing every day to a secluded spot, formed by rocks and trees near her dwelling, where, abstracted from the world and worldly things, she communed with her Creator in humiliation and prayer. After an absence of seven years, it was at length, on the return of the combined armies from Yorktown, permitted to the mother again to see and embrace her illustrious son. So soon as he had dismounted, in the midst of a numerous and brilliant suite, he sent to apprise her of his arrival, and to know when it would be her pleasure to receive him.

and

habits,

And now mark

the force of early education

and the superiority of the Spartan over the

Persian school, in this interview of the great

with his admirable parent and instructor.

Washington

No

pageantry

no trumpets sounded, no banners waved. Alone and on foot the Marshal of France, the General-in-Chief of the combined armies of of

war proclaimed

his coming,

France and America, the deliverer of

his country, the

hero of the age, repaired to pay his humble duty to her whom he venerated as the author of his being, the founder of his fortune and his fame.

the matron would not be

For

moved by

full all

well he

knew

that

the pride that glory

!

MARY WASHINGTON ever gave, nor by

all

the

275

“pomp and circumstance”

of

power.

The mother was

alone, her

the works of domestic industry,

a

was

told that the victor Chief

in waiting at the threshold.

She welcomed him with

warm

ing

the good news

was further

announced, and

was

aged hands employed in

when

it

embrace, and by the well-remembered and endear-

name of his childhood.

Inquiring as to his health, she

remarked the lines which mighty cares and many trials had made on his manly countenance, spoke much of old times and old friends, but of his glory not one word Meantime, in the village of Fredericksburg, all was joy and revelry. The town was crowded with the officers of the French and American armies, and with gentlemen from all the country around, who hastened to welcome the conquerors of Cornwallis. The citizens made arrangements for a splendid ball, to which the mother of Washington was specially invited. She observed that although her dancing days were “pretty well over,” she should feel happy in contributing to the general The foreign officers festivity, and consented to attend. were anxious to see the mother of their chief. They had heard indistinct rumors respecting her remarkable life and character, but, forming their judgments from European examples, they were prepared to expect in the matter that glare and show, which would have been attached to the parents of the great in the Old World. How were they all surprised when the matron, leaning on the arm of her She was arrayed in the very son, entered the room. plain yet becoming garb worn by the Virginia lady of the olden times. Her address, always dignified and imposing, was courteous though reserved. She received the complimentary attentions which were profusely paid her,

—

without evincing the slightest elevation, and, at an early

FAMOUS WOMEN

276

company much enjoyment of their pleasit was time for old people to be at home, and retired. The foreign officers were amazed to

hour, wishing the

ures, observed that

behold one

whom

so

many

causes contributed to elevate,

persevering in the even tenor of her

life,

while such a blaze

The Euroof glory shone upon her name and offspring. pean world furnished no examples of such magnanimity. Names of ancient lore were heard to escape from their lips, and they observed that “if such were the matrons of America, it was not wonderful the sons were illustrious.” It was on this festive occasion that General Washington danced a minuet with Mrs. Willis. It closed his dancing The minuet was much in vogue at that period, and days.

was

peculiarly calculated for the display of the splendid

and his natural grace and elegance of and manner. The gallant Frenchmen who were present, of which fine people it may be said that dancing forms one of the elements of their existence, so. much admired the American performance as to admit that a Parisian education could not have improved it. As the evening

figure of the Chief, air

advanced, the Commander-in-chief, yielding to the gaiet}' of the scene, went dance, with great

The Marquis

down some dozen spirit

and

couple, in the contra-

satisfaction.

of Lafayette repaired to Fredericksburg,

previous to his departure, for Europe, in the to

pay

his parting respects to the mother,

blessing.

fall

and

of 1784,

to ask her

Conducted by one of her grandsons, he ap-

The young man observed “There, grandmother !” Lafayette beheld, working in the garden, clad in domestic-made clothes, and her gray head covered in a plain straw hat, the mother of “his hero.” She saluted him kindly, observing: “Ah, Marquis, you see an old woman but come, I can make you

proached the house. sir, is

:

my

—

welcome

to

my

poor dwelling, without the parade of

MARY WASHINGTON changing

my

dress.”

2 77

The Marquis spoke

to her of the

happy effects of the Revolution and the goodly prospect which opened upon independent America, stated his speedy departure for his native land, paid the tribute of his

and admiration of her illustrious son, and She blessed him, and to the encomiums which he lavished upon his hero and paternal Chief, the matron replied in these words “I am not surprised at what George has done, for he was always a very good boy.” In her person Mrs. Washington was of the middle size, and finely formed, her features pleasing, yet strongly marked. It is not the happiness of the writer* to remember her, having only seen her with infant eyes. But the sister of the Chief he perfectly well remembers. She was a most majestic woman, and so strikingly like the brother that it was a matter of frolic to throw a cloak around her and place a military hat upon her head, and such was the perfect resemblance, that, had she appeared on her brother’s steed, battalions would have presented arms, and senates risen to do homage to the Chief. In her latter days the mother often spoke of her “own good boy,” of the merits of his early life, of his love and heart, his love

concluded by asking her blessing.

:

dutifulness to herself; but of the deliverer of his country,

the Chief Magistrate of the Great Republic, she never Call

spoke.

you

this insensibility or

want of ambition?

her ambition had been gratified to overflowing.

Oh, no She had taught him ,*

good that he became great when was a consequence. Thus lived and died this distinguished woman. Had she been a Roman dame, statues would have been erected to her memory in the capitol, and we should read in classic to be

;

the opportunity presented

pages the story of her virtues.

When

another century

* George Washington Parke Custis, born 1781; died 1857.

FAMOUS WOMEN

27S

shall have elapsed, and the nations of the earth, as well as our descendants, shall have learned the true value of liberty, the

name

of our hero will gather a glory

it

has

never been invested with; and then will youth and age,

maid and matron, aged and bearded men, with pilgrim step, repair to the grave of the Mother of Washington.” Here ends the memorial written by Custis when he was a young man. Through it breathes a respect for the manners and customs of the forefathers who handed us down liberty at the expense and risk of their lives, and a sensibility of the value of sound maternal instruction, frugality and simplicity, which cannot be flattered or too highly extolled. Some biographical facts may be added to this memorial. Mary Ball, daughter of a prosperous farmer, was born in 1714. On March 6, 1730, she became the second wife of Augustine Washington, who already had three sons and a daughter. She moved into a comfortable home in estmoreland County, which gave a view of the Potomac River. The dwelling, though a considerable one in Colonial days, was of frame, with steep roof, four rooms, an enormous chimney at each end, and a large hall. Nearly two years later, the eldest child of these second nuptials was born. This was George Washington. The date was then February 11 it is now the 22d from the Gregorian correction of the calendar, which was not then

W

—

acceptable in Protestant countries.

The

house,

it is

said,

burned three years afterward and the family removed to

what is now Stafford County, near the Rappahannock, and near Fredericksburg. The mother, from the first, .

held every

member

of the double family to continuous

industry and frequent worship.

Prayers were said morn-

ing and evening, with every soul present.

husband children,

In 1743, the

and the mother was left with two sets of for George by this time had three brothers and

died,

MARY WASHINGTON two

So

sisters.

high was the afterward left

to

was

him by

was this office performed, and so amity in the family, that George was

well

spirit of

made

2 79

Mount Vernon, which was half-brother Lawrence. Her reading

the heir of

his

book being Hale's and Divine Contemplations." She knew no language but her own, and her spelling was as uncertain She was gifted with as anybody’s in that age of freedom. strong, good sense. She was provident, and exact in matters of business. She was an imperious woman, and brooked no opposition. She was, more than most people, dignified, silent, and little given to mirth. She was forced work hard, to but she believed work to be good for people, and that he who was an idler was a curse to any community. She had a way of impressing her views on the subjects of her small kingdom, a way that was certain and yet Happily, Washnot unkind, perhaps kind, yet awesome. chiefly devotional, her favorite

‘‘Moral

ington, who could rebel against a King that expected to hang him on a scaffold, could not rise up against the rule which she more affectionately established, and he therefore accepted her doctrines as the chart for a

ment

new

new govern-

She died in 1796, and her grave at Fredericksburg was not more than ordinarily marked for in

a

world.

nearly thirty-seven years.

Monument Committee of the was given charge of the work of erecting

Early in the 30’s the State of Virginia

monument over her resting-place, with Basset as chairThe corner-stone was laid with ceremonies on May 7, 1833, by Andrew Jackson, President of the United

a

man.

States,

who was accompanied by

the great officers of the

The shaft is Nation and a large concourse of people. forty-five feet high, surmounted by a bust of George Washington. Still above the head of the bust an American eagle

is

in the attitude of

lowering a civic wreath upon

— FAMOUS WOMEN

2 So

the is

brow of

the hero.

The

inscription

on the monument

simply

MARY, THE MOTHER OF

WASHINGTON

The

President, then at the height of his popularity

on account of his successful stand against nullification, made an extended address, filled with the noblest sentiments of affection and admiration for the Father of his Country. We shall excerpt only those passages which bear directly upon the subject of this article: “In the grave before us,” said the President, remains of Washington’s mother.

marked by any monumental

You have

tablet,

Long has

“lie the

been un-

it

but not unhonored.

undertaken the pious duty of erecting a column

memory, and of inscribing upon it the simple but Mother of Washington.’ No eulogy could be higher, and it appeals to the heart of every American. The mother and son are beyond the

to her

affecting words, ‘Mary, the

reach of rental

human

and

filial

applause; but the bright example of paexcellence which their conduct furnishes,

cannot but produce the most salutary

countrymen. first

lesson

effects

Let their example be before

which

is

taught the child,

duties yield to the course of preparation

till

us,

upon our from the

the mother’s

and action which

nature prescribes for him.

“Tradition says that the character of Washington was aided and strengthened, if not formed, by the care and precepts of his mother, and in tracing the recollections that can be gathered of her principles and conduct,

it is

impossible to avoid the conviction that these were closely

MARY WASHINGTON

281

He possessed an term can be applied to hunature), great probity of purpose, high moral prin-

interwoven with the destiny of her son. unerring judgment

man

(if that

ciples, perfect self-possession,

untiring application, an in-

quiring mind, seeking information from every quarter,

and arriving

at its conclusions with a full

knowledge of

the subject; and he added to these an inflexibility of reso-

which nothing could change but a conviction of Look back at the life and conduct of his mother— as known to her contempoat her domestic government raries and described by them to the honorable Chairman to-day, and these will be found admirably adapted to form and develop the elements of such a character. The power of greatness was in Washington, but had it not been guided and directed by maternal solicitude and judgment, its possessor, instead of presenting to the world examples of virtue, patriotism and wisdom which will be precious in all succeeding ages, might have added to the number of those master-spirits, whose fame rests upon the faculties they have abused and the injuries they have committed. “Happy for our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters that they have before them this illustrious example of maternal devotion, and this bright reward of filial success. The mother of a family, who lives to witness the virtues of her children, who is known and honored because they are known and honored, should have no other wish on this Upon the mother must freside the grave to gratify. quently, if not generally, depend the fate of the son. “I witnessed the public conduct and the private virtues of Washington, and I saw and participated in the confilution error.

—

dence which he inspired, institutions

when probably the

depended on

years have passed over

stability of

his personal influence.

me

since,

our

Many

but they have increased

— —

—

:

FAMOUS WOMEN

282

instead of diminished

my

reverence for his character, and

my confidence in his principles. “At your request and

in

my fellow-citizens,

your name,

now deposit this plate in the spot destined for it; and when the American pilgrim shall, in after ages, come up I

to this high

and holy

may he

sacred column,

place,

and lay

his

recall the virtues of

hand upon the her

who

sleeps

beneath, and depart with his affections purified and his piety strengthened, while he invokes blessings

upon the

Mother of Washington.”

The poem was

first

of Mrs. Sigourney to

read at these ceremonies.

Mary Washington

It is as follows

Long

hast thou slept unnoted. Nature stole, In her soft minstrelsy around thy bed,. And spread her vernal coverings, violet-gemmed, And pearled with dews. She bade bright Summer bring Gifts of frankincense, with sweet song of birds, And Autumn cast his yellow coverlet Down at thy feet and stormy Winter speak Hoarsely of man’s neglect. But now we come To do thee homage mother of our Chief Fit homage such as honor eth him who pays.

—

—

—

!

Methinks we see thee, as in olden time, Simple in garb majestic and serene Unawed by “pomp and circumstance” in truth Inflexible and with a Spartan zeal Repressing vice, and making folly grave. Thou didst not deem it woman’s part to waste

—

—

—

Life in inglorious sloth, to sport awhile

Amid

the flowers, or on the summer-wave,

Then

flit,

like the ephemeron, away, Building no temple in her children’s hearts, Save to the vanity and pride of life Which she had worshiped.

Qf the might The Pater Patriae of

—

A

that clothed

the deeds that

won

and earth’s applause, Making Mount Vernon’s tomb a Mecca haunt For patriot and for sage, while time shall last, nation’s liberty,

!

;

!

—

!

!

MARY WASHINGTON What

Who

part

mid

was

thine

What

!

283

thanks to thee are due.

his elements of being

wrought

—

With no uncertain aim nursing the germs Of god-like virtue in his infant mind, We know not Heaven can tell

—

Rise, noble pile

And show a race unborn who rests below; And say to mothers what a holy charge Is theirs

Might

—with what a kingly power their love

new-born mind dawn, and sow Good seed, before the world doth sow its tares, Nor in their toil decline that angel bands May put the sickle in, and reap for God, rule the fountains of the

Warn them

to wake, at early

—

And

gather to his garner..

Ye who With

stand

thrilling breast

Viewing the

and kindly cheek

this

morn.

tribute that Virginia pays

To the blest mother of her glorious chief Ye whose last thought upon your mighty couch, Whose first at waking is your cradled son What though no dazzling hope aspire to rear A second Washington—or leave your name Wrought out in marble, with your country’s tears Of deathless gratitude yet may ye raise A monument above the stars a soul Led by your teachings and your prayers to God

—

Our volume,

Romans

parallel, as

was

lies logically

—

said in the third article of this

between Mary and Cornelia.

The

held in highest veneration that mother whose

teachings led two statesmen on

to'

unsuccessful rebellion

for the right, and to death at the hands of the people’s foes. But while the Romans would praise Cornelia, they would Mary Washnot profit by the martyrdom of her sons. ington was the mother of a modern Gracchus, who entirely overthrew the patricians, and cast their wicked exHer son actions, thefts, and contumelies across the seas. was a Confucius, a Manu, a Zoroaster, an Ur, a Menes, a Hercules, a Romulus, a Pharamond, a Barbarossa, who

FAMOUS WOMEN

284

at last brought true the isles

dreams of poets of the Grecian and golden age he at last conveyed to a continent the

legacy of off,

;

its

liberty— the divine rights of kings clipped

the hoary shackles of church and feudalism removed,

the single and sufficient right assured to start as if the world were new created, and no angel yet stationed at the gates of Eden with flaming sword of evil. So much was

Mary’s son greater, or more potent, or more important, than Cornelia’s twain.

Nor should we

pass from the contemplation of this

imperious, simple, industrious, moral American

woman

without contrasting her with Cleopatra, her antipodes.

And though

he

who

properly looks with interest on spec-

may not soon forget going the scene of dying Antony up on the pulley to his frantic Queen, yet must the noble heart ever dwell with finer, deeper feeling upon the return of the Father of tacles of sustained

dramatic power,

Country to the cabin of his mother, that she, in the maternal majesty which alone could daunt his heart might put her hand upon his brow and sanction him once his

more.

/

MARIA THERESA A. D. 1717-1780

“THE MOTHER OF GERMANY ”

The indulgent or studious

who has followed this volume from its beginning, as we have come down the ages and passed across the nations, is now advised that we have reached the career of a woman who, in many great regards, can be compared only with Isabella; and each person who reader

contemplates the life-work of the two monarchs should be left to

decide which one of the twain

primacy among

all

is entitled

to the

the illustrious characters depicted in

this book.

To

bring the main facts of the biography of Maria

Theresa intelligently before the student and juror in this Tomparison,

we must convey an approximate

regions over which her ancestors held sway. little

idea of the

In maps a

anterior to her time, a confederation of perhaps 300

stretching from the North Sea Adriatic— from Brussels to Venice— will be found marked with the sounding style and title of “Holy Roman Empire.” In this confederation the Archduchy of Austria had long held a preponderating influence, and reckoned the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia as its appanages. The Holy Roman Empire, by the votes of certain of its states east of France,

to the

reigning Princes, conferred the

many on one

title

of

Emperor of Ger-

of their number, and an almost unbroken

custom had exalted the Austrian Archduke to be Emperor.

Maria Theresa’s father was Charles VI (Karl), Emperor of this Germany, or

Holy Roman Empire. 285

FAMOUS WOMEN

286

Inasmuch as Maria Theresa had before her Isabella's grand example of patriotism, it might be well also to trace the line of royal blood down from the Castilian Queen, which runs thus:

Isabella,

then Joan, daughter of Isa-

then Emperor Ferdinand I, son of Joan; then Emperor Maximilian II, son of Ferdinand I; next his son, Archduke Charles; next his son, Emperor Ferdinand II; next his son, Emperor Ferdinand III; next his son, Emperor Leopold I; next his son, Emperor Charles VI; next his daughter, Maria Theresa, an eldest child. Women were not eligible to command over the Holy Roman Empire. Maria Theresa was the ninth generation away from her great ancestor, Isabella. But we are by no means as yet sufficiently prepared to deal with the geography of Maria Theresa, and it cannot be amiss to outline the Austro-Hungarian Empire of bella;

to-day for the purpose of getting a better hold of our

own

This Austro-Hungarian Empire is composed of a huge bund of realms called (in English) Austriasubject.

His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, is Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary and Bohemia, He has no title of Emperor of Hungary.

the sovereign,

Austria-Hungary.

a dual empire, each part in turn

It is

many

tribes and states. Each which was called in Maria Each of the two great halves Theresa's time the Estates. has its great Parliament. Each great half, again, sends a Delegation to Vienna, and the Delegations compose the

being a confederation of little

state has its Parliament,

real ultimate Imperial

Parliament.

To show

name the principal Lower Austria, Upper

nature of the realms,

let

The Austrian Empire

—

us

the vast factors:

Austria,

Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, four Coast Districts, the Tyrol

and Vorarlberg, Kingdom of Bohemia (Prague is the capital), Moravia, Silesia, Galicia, Bukowina, Dalmatia,

MARIA THERESA

The Hungarian Kingdom Hungary (Buda-Pesth is the

and Herzegovina.

Bosnia,

(empire) capital,

287

—Kingdom

of

a wonderful city), Transylvania, Fiume, Croatia,

and Slavonia.

Now let the reader imagine that his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty of to-day, were elected Emperor of

Germany, or to the titular command of the ancient Holy Roman Empire of Maria’s time, in which Austria-Hungary would be one item, and the proper idea of our true situation and geography will not be seriously disturbed. The imperial honor, however, had grown to be nearly a phantom. Nine Electors conferred the title the sovereigns of Austria, Bohemia, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, being the leading ones. Let it be understood, there was then no “Emperor” in all Western Europe, save the Archduke, King, or Elector who might be chosen for life as sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire. Feudalism survived in Middle Europe. This title of Austrian ruler, too, ought not to go to a woman time and again, women had been put to one side, following the Salic law. For instance, Maria Theresa’s own father, Emperor Charles VI, had succeeded his brother, Emperor Joseph I, while Joseph I had a daughter who, it would seem, had a right to rule, if women were not to be forever debarred from the

—

—

Austrian throne.

Once again to the geography of Maria Theresa. Pier father, Emperor Charles VI, had made a bad reign of it, and had lost territory on nearly every side, but, even if he had not been elected Emperor, he would have been

own right at the start over the following The Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia; the Archduchies of Upper and Lower Austria, Milan, Parma, sovereign in his states:

Placentia, the

Low Countries, Carinthia, Carniola, Burgau,

Bresgau, Suabia, Silesia, Styria, Friuli, and the Tyrol.

— FAMOUS WOMEN

288

These countries, stretching from sea to sea, were usually denominated “the Austrian possessions.” There is one other territorial feature of great interest to be noted Lorraine.

We have seen the importance of the Lorraines

The father of Maria marry her to Francis Theresa had Stephen, Duke of Lorraine, but this would dismember Maria France, taking away the Duchy of Lorraine. Theresa would marty nobody else, and the young man gave up Lorraine, and was made heir to the Grand Dukedom of Tuscany instead. But, of course, Maria Theresa’s marriage to any landed prince whatever outside the Austrian possessions would have been a matter of serious import in the time of Catherine de’ Medici.

reasons for desiring to

in disturbing the “balance” in

Europe.

These necessary preliminaries stated, we are measurably prepared to enter on the life of the disputed heir of “the Austrian possessions,” a woman who was to do fifteen years of battle with Frederick the Great, the foremost captain of his age, and one of the leading generals of

all

ages.

Walpurgia Amelia Christina Maria Theresa was born at Vienna,

May

13, 1717.

Her

father, the sixth Charles

Holy Roman Empire, was a man who was an amiaand an incapable King. He was a stickler for He led an imetiquette, and a renowned boar-hunter. perial orchestra, and his two daughters danced in the ballet. He was a silent man, who seldom smiled, and, followof the

ble father

ing the record of Philip II of Spain, laughed but once in

His wife was Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick, a woman with sweet and gracious manners. The imperial couple lived in perfect amity, and the court was famous for its good morals. Maria Theresa and Maria Anne, the two Archduchesses, were the only children. They were brought up in seclusion by their mother. Both daughters were beau-

his

life.

MARIA THERESA REVIEWING HER TROOPS Painting by

W. Camphausen

MARIA THERESA tiful,

289

but Maria Theresa, the elder, was the superior in

They were tenderly attached to each other. intellect. Maria Theresa learned music well. She studied Italian, because it was necessary. She got in the habit of spending many hours a day at her devotions, and kept this up all her life. She carefully studied the geography of her country, which was second in size only to Russia, and, with a tinge of the Castilian pride that had come down to her from Isabella, she soon came to believe that no one on earth was quite her born equal. This highly undesirable quality she cultivated, and, while at one time it stood her in good stead in place of armies, she transmitted it to a daughter, Marie Antoinette, whose downfall on account of it was commensurably awful. At the age of fourteen, Maria Theresa was admitted to sit silent at the meetings of the Emperor’s Council, but her father never spoke to her on affairs of state, nor did she receive instruction in the forms of business as then carried on. She considered the privilege of attendance a boon, and always stayed to the end, however prolonged tl e session. She soon was regarded in the court as a person of influence, and, because she brought so many petitions, she elicited from her father the protest “You seem !” to think a sovereign has nothing to do but grant favors “I see nothing else that can make a crown supportable!” :

retorted his daughter.

But while the Emperor was not talking overmuch to Maria Theresa, he was no less busy in the midst of his misfortunes (losing Parma and Placentia to Spain and eastern territory to the Mohammedans), to secure the succession of his own crowns to his female issue. When Maria Theresa was only seven old, he made his will, one of the celebrated Pragmatic Sanctions of history. The word “pragmatic”

years

Voi